


Penny Parker's Field Trip to Stark Industries

by Tammy_Ivy_Cairns



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers Tower, Bullying, Domestic Avengers, F/F, Family, Family-like Feels, Female Peter Parker, Field Trip, Fluff, Humor, Irondad, Peter Parker's Field Trip to Stark Industries, Peter is Penny, Protective Avengers, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Tony Stark, School Trip, Stark Industries, Swearing, The Avengers Are Good Bros, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark has an intern, because Peter is a girl, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:33:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 21,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27775408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tammy_Ivy_Cairns/pseuds/Tammy_Ivy_Cairns
Summary: My take on the field trip trope!Penny Parker was sure that someone would die; either she would kill her family for embarrassing her, or her family would kill Flash for bullying her.
Relationships: Harley Keener & Peter Parker, James "Bucky" Barnes & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Natasha Romanov, Peter Parker & Pepper Potts, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 22
Kudos: 521





	1. Chapter 1

Penny rested her head back on her locker and let her eyes shut for a moment. Ned was talking excitedly to MJ about The Mandalorian and squeeing over Baby Yoda. As the bell for first period rang, Penny winced at the sharp sound and when she opened her eyes she could see that MJ had not missed the reaction. She was too perceptive. 

Penny flashed her a smile and the three made their way to class. Penny was not looking forward to the day ahead, she had only come in from patrol at 3 in the morning, much later than the agreed curfew, and she’d had to spend a further half hour washing all of the blood and dirt from several minor stab wounds and, more importantly, her hair. The result was that she was bone tired today and had a splitting headache. On thinking about it she reached to feel the back of her head and could feel that there was still a noticeable bump. “You okay?” MJ asked, giving her a pointed look. Penny lowered her hand and flashed another bashful smile, “I’m fine” she reassured.

MJ pursed her lips in clear disbelief and made her way to her usual seat in the back, Penny could see that she pulled out her sketchbook rather than her textbook. As Penny slid into her seat next to Ned, he too gave her a pointed look.  
Penny knew that they both cared about her, which meant that she needed to be more careful at hiding these things, it only made them worry and she was normally healed before the next night. Of course, that was when she went out again, and inevitably ended up getting hurt again, so really she should be adjusted to this by now and be better at masking. 

By lunch time she had convinced her friends that she was feeling better, the throbbing in her head had lessoned a bit so it wasn’t necessarily a lie. 

By the time last period rolled around, Penny was more than ready for her bed. She sat through the AP Chemistry lesson and feigned interest convincingly, really she had covered this topic years ago. When the final bell rang and Mr Harington held his hand up to stop them from all running off, Penny just managed to hold in her groan. 

“Sorry guys, before you run off, I do have a quick announcement – I promise it will be worth staying the extra two minutes” he joked in response to the class’s moans. 

“Midtown High has been offered a very rare and exciting opportunity. On Friday morning we shall be going on a Field Trip to tour the illustrious Stark Industries!” He exclaimed, the joy shining in his eyes as the whole class erupted into excited chattering, some even going to far as to whoop with joy. 

Penny was not one of those people, the fake smile slipped from her face and she dropped her head into her hands.

This could not be happening, of all the places they could be going, why the hell did it have to be there?

Ned placed his hand on her shoulder in a show of silent support, but she knew he would be excited. When she lifted her head, she made sure to exaggerate the self-pitying grin, he smiled in response and shrugged his shoulders. She rolled her eyes, letting him know that it wasn’t the end of the world and he took this as permission to let himself go. “I’m sorry Penny, I know this could get potentially very embarrassing for you, but OHMYGOD WE’RE GOING TO AVANGERS TOWER!!” He exploded. 

Penny laughed at his enthusiasm and let her head fall back into her hands, this was actually going to be the worst field trip ever … and she’d nearly died on more than one.

Mr Harrington handed out the permission slips which needed to be signed and returned by Wednesday, he explained that these also included NDA’s which needed to be read very carefully by both student and guardian before also being signed or they would not be permitted to attend. 

As Penny stuffed the paperwork rather unceremoniously into her bag the inevitable result of this announcement came about.

“Are you going to admit that you’re a lying piece of trash now Penis or are you going to wait until we’re actually at Stark Industries? Personally, I hope that you wait ‘till we’re there, that way they can throw you out of the building for daring to imply that they would ever associate with the likes of you”.

Penny ignored Flash entirely and threw a warning look to MJ who was holding a pair of scissors in a rather worrying way.

Luckily for Flash, MJ slammed the scissors onto the table before he could antagonise her further and Penny went to calm her down. The three friends lingered in the class for a while to allow plenty of time for Flash to leave and Ned eased the tension by rambling on about the Lego Millennium Falcon that he really wanted but would never be able to afford. 

“So, are you looking forward to the field trip?” Penny asked MJ. She knew that MJ was too cool to be hyped purely due to the proximity to superheroes, and she had some pretty strong views on big corporations with unethical policies but Penny wasn’t sure what her view was on SI in particular. 

MJ flashed her an evil grin “I’m actually really looking forward to it”.

“Oh yeah?” Penny asked in surprise.

“Yep” MJ said, popping the P. She picked up her bag and walked away. As she reached the door she glanced back with that look of murderous glee that Penny had seen far too many times on the faces of people that she loved “I’m looking forward to watching a dozen pissed off and over protective Avengers flay that fuck face alive”

Penny’s mouth dropped opened in surprise. Shit.

She knew that at least a few of the team were bound to try and embarrass her. There was no avoiding that and Penny wasn’t stupid enough to think that she could hide it from a group of spies, super soldiers, genius’ and gods. 

MJ was right, there was no way that Flash wasn’t going to be a dick at some point during this trip. She wasn’t even sure if he realised that her name was not in fact Penis at this point. He’s been calling her that since the 5th grade when she’d started expressing an interest in all of the things that only boys were supposed to be into … like engineering and Star Wars or superheroes and, well, girls.

There was exactly zero chance of him not trying to trip her up, shove her into a wall or calling her a Bitch or a Dyke. And when he did, no matter how alone he’ll think they are at the time, FRIDAY will see and then she will tell the team and then they will actually kill him because that’s who they are and then they’ll get in trouble and it would be all her fault. 

The feel of a hand on her shoulder brought Penny from her panic and she looked up at Ned.

“Hey, it’s okay” he said reassuringly. 

“You don’t think they’ll go mental?” Penny asked hopefully. 

“Oh no I’m actually hoping that they throw him out the window of the penthouse, but they’re the Avengers and he’s a prick so I doubt they’ll even get a slap on the wrist” he grinned. Penny worried that it was her that brought out this side of people. 

MJ scoffed and gestured for them to hurry up. Penny picked up her bag and trudged after her friends dejectedly. The two were now happily discussing which of the team would throw the first punch; MJ hoped that it was Natasha who would stealthily kidnap Flash and take him away for a ‘quick chat’ while Ned hoped that Mr Stark would go full IronDad and just destroy Flash’s entire future with a quick call, before kindly asking Captain America to take out the trash. Which would of course involve Steve drop kicking Flash through the aforementioned window. 

\--

As Penny made it out the front doors, a black town car with tinted windows pulled sharply up to the curb. Waving goodbye to MJ and Ned, she slipped into the back seat and apologised to Happy for making him wait. With a nod he pulled away and they made their way to the tower. 

As Penny looked out the window, worrying more about how she could mitigate the impending disaster, she missed the looks that Happy gave her in the mirror. 

“Alright what’s bothering you?” he asked after the silence got too much for him. 

“Hmm?” Penny asked, not even looking away from the window.

“I said what’s bothering you? Is it that Dash kid again? Want me to tell Tony?”

“No!” Penny cried a bit too forcefully. 

Happy’s eyes narrowed dangerously “So it is that little prick? I swear I don’t mind running him over if you’ll just point him out to me”

Penny smiled at that “No, it’s not him, I just had a long night of patrol and didn’t get much sleep last night. On top of that I’ve just found out that my class has a field trip this Friday which I reeaally don’t want to go to”

“Hmm, you sure it’s not that kid?” he clearly was not convinced. 

Penny smiled, Happy had managed to wrangle out of her that there was a boy with a stupid name that was being an arse after a particularly bad day. She had assured him that it was not a big deal and had made him promise not to tell anyone else about it; it made her feel foolish to have a kid bothering her when she was supposed to be a super hero. Happy had done so reluctantly under the returned promise that she let him know if it ever escalated. She only felt slightly bad about breaking that promise given that she knew what the consequences would be. 

“I’m sure, just a really long week”

“You do realise that it’s only Monday right?”

She threw her head back dramatically “Ugh don’t remind me!” which elicited a half smile from Happy. She mentally patted herself on the back for diffusing the tension. 

“So why are you not looking forward to this field trip?” Happy asked and Penny felt there was just a bit too much feigned innocence in the question. Especially as he now wouldn’t meet her eye and was actually focussing on the road.  
“What do you know?” She asked suspiciously. 

“Hmm?” he asked mockingly.

“Ugh, so you do know, which means that they know” Happy chuckled “Who do you think thought of it?” he asked with a glint in his eye.

“…fantastic” she dead panned looking back out the window. 

“Come on it won’t be that bad, it’s not like you’ll actually die of embarrassment” he teased.

“It’s not me that I’m worried about” she mumbled under her breath, too low for Happy to hear.

\--

Penny went straight up to the kitchen once she got to the tower, she knew that she was late for lab time with Tony but she wanted a snack first and was feeling petty. She was fairly confident that this was in fact all his fault. 

Annoyingly, as she exited the elevator, she could see that Mr Stark was resting casually against the counter and not waiting dutifully for her in the lab as he should be. Instead he was nursing a coffee and watching on as Clint and Scott had an aggressive game of Mario Kart in the living room. Both superheroes were currently standing on the sofa, screaming at each other with their eyes glued to the screen. Clint appeared to be trying to kick out at Scott while he dodged. 

Penny pulled a pop tart out of cupboard without acknowledging her mentor.

“Hey kid, we’ll go down to the labs in a bit, I just want to see this last race, I have money on Clint fully tackling Scott before it’s over” he laughed. 

“Fine” was Penny’s response, which immediately set alarm bells ringing for Tony. He was a genius after all.

“Hey kid, you okay?” he asked finally looking away from the match.

“I’m mad at you” she informed him aloofly.

“Whatdidido?!” he asked in shock.

“Two words Mr Stark … Field. Trip.”

This apparently was too much for Tony as he burst out laughing and had to put his drink down carefully. 

“Oh man, they finally told you huh? I’ll admit this is one of my more genius moments”

Penny just scowled at him “You do realise that that this is a fucking awful plan and can only end in disaster, right?”

Several cries of “Language” could be heard throughout the penthouse in response. 

Penny rolled her eyes and started eating her pop tart in anger. 

Tony laughed at this and ruffled her hair “Personally I’m really looking forward to Friday, I get to meet all of your little school friends and tell them embarrassing stories about you, it’s gonna be a blast!” 

Clint laughed at this “Yeah embarrassing your kids is like a dad’s right of passage” he called back, shortly before throwing his controller at the screen in defeat. “Really it’s the only thing that brings us joy” he smirked as he walked over to the pair in the kitchen.  
Penny blushed furiously as both Scott and Mr Stark nodded in response to Clint’s comment. This was not the first time that the team had casually referred to Mr Stark as her Dad but it still threw her for a loop every time.

Noticing her clear embarrassment both Clint and Mr Stark ruffled her hair again, much to Penny’s chagrin, and left her in peace to finish the snack. 

“I’ll see you in the lab kid” Tony called back as he entered the elevator and Penny was left to think about how bad this trip would be. 

It was true, Mr Stark had taken up the roll of a father figure for her. It had been very gradual and she hadn’t noticed it for a long time but it had since become clear that they had grown very close. 

To the point that a lot of the Interns that she worked with in the lower labs would joke about him turning into Iron Dad. Which was not unheard of, either in the field or in the labs, as it turned out that he could be quite overprotective and Penny did not want to think about what he would do when he realised that she was being bullied every day at school, or that it had been going on for years now. 

\--

When Penny finally made it down to the lab her mood had improved slightly, food normally helped with that, and she was ready to bury this anxiety while she focussed on having fun in the lab. Tony flashed her a smile as she entered and she stuck her tongue out in response. 

“Did you bring your suit? I wanted to run some diagnostics.”

Chucking him the suit from her bag she focussed on her plans for the Millennium Falcon Drone that she was building as a surprise for Ned. 

“Err Penny?” Mr Stark called a few moments later.

“Yeah?” she asked, as she zoomed in on her tablet.

“What the fuck is this?” there was an edge to his voice that made her look up. What she saw was Mr Stark holding up her suit with his finger waggling through one of several cuts in the fabric that she’d got last night.  
“Oh, right, err, minor stab wounds?” she offered apologetically. 

He dropped his arms heavily and she could tell by his expression that he was not happy.

“Honestly they really were minor Mr Stark, I made sure to clean them all when I got home and look they’re almost gone already” she explained, pulling her sleeve up to show the slightly puckered scar which should be healed completely by the morning.

“The fact that you were stabbed at all is not acceptable Penny!” he cried in frustration. “If they were close enough to get you this many times” he continued, holding up her suit pointedly “then you shouldn’t have been there, you should have called for back-up or webbed them up from a distance!” 

This comment hit a nerve as she felt he was critiquing her strategy in the field. “There was no time to call for help Mr Stark, and I webbed a few but there were too many and if I hadn’t gotten into the fray then they might have stabbed a civilian” she defended herself. 

Tony took a calming breath and levelled her with a stern look “Why didn’t you call me after? You’re supposed to let me know when you get hurt” 

Penny bit her tongue, she had known at the time that she should have told him, at least dropped him a text to confirm that she was okay, but she also knew that she was out way past curfew and she didn’t want to get in trouble. 

“I’m sorry Mr Stark, I promise they really were minor cuts, it was nothing I couldn’t handle. I’ll be more careful in the future and I’ll try and remember to let you know”

Tony took another breath and tried to release all of his tension on the exhale. 

“Fine, I’m sorry I got angry”

Penny sighed in relief “It’s okay, I get that you’re worried” she said with a slight smile.

Tony rolled his eyes and started working on fixing the slashes in her suit.

Just as Penny thought she was in the clear, Mr Stark made one last remark. “Don’t think I won’t tell Bucky and Nat that you let yourself be stabbed” 

“Ah shit” she cringed

“Language” he sang mockingly which Penny ignored. 

Bucky and Nat had been training Penny in hand to hand combat for months now. They had also, like most of the team, grown very protective of Penny. She knew that her training sessions would be extra brutal for next few weeks. Whilst it felt like a punishment, they were just trying to hone her skills. That didn’t stop her limping around school though, her muscles were already aching in anticipation. 

\--

After four hours of both Penny and Tony losing themselves in their work, FRIDAY announced that dinner was ready and that Aunt May had messaged to say that she was pulling a double shift at the hospital so Penny could stay the night. 

This was a semi-regular occurrence, so Penny wasn’t overly surprised. She always made sure to carry the work she would need for the week just in case. Bless her super strength for allowing this. 

As they made their way up to the communal floor Penny was glad that she was feeling a lot better now, the time in the lab had really helped her centre herself. She was still worried about Friday but if Flash did something to provoke a team of superheroes then really that was his fault. 

Tony and her were the last to arrive for dinner so the room was alive with the sounds and smells of family. Penny smiled before finding a seat between Bucky and Wanda. Bucky served her a large plate of spaghetti Bolognese with garlic bread and she dove into the food which tasted as good as it smelled. 

Penny looked around the table as she ate, observing the usual subgroups which people had split into. Mr Stark was sat between Colonel Rhodes and Ms Potts, his arm was draped casually over the back of Ms Potts chair as he laughed at something that Colonel Rhodes had said. Next to Ms Potts sat Natasha and Clint, Penny watched as Clint tried to distract Natasha with something across the table while his hand tried to steal her garlic bread. This of course did not work and just as he was pulling the food away, she slammed a dagger into the table, straight between his fingers and through the garlic bread. He pulled back in shock which caused Scott, who was sitting next to him, to burst out laughing. Next to Scott was Hope who was talking to Bruce intently about the quantum realm. Penny only understood every other word, but they were both gesturing passionately. Next to Bruce sat Vision who was holding hands with Wanda as they talked quietly, Vision didn’t have any food in front of him but Penny thought it was sweet that he still joined in on the meal times. Next to Wanda was Penny herself and Bucky was on her other side. He seemed to be having a disagreement with Captain America about who had ruined a double date that they had had over 70 years ago. Next to the captain sat Mr Wilson who she now saw was looking straight at her, she felt like he had caught her out as she’d been watching the team and he gave her a small smile.

“Hey kid, how was school?” he asked kindly.

“Err yeah it was fine thanks” she responded vaguely.

Evidently saying fine was not the best choice as several people around the table turned their heads toward her at this. 

“How was your day Mr Falcon Sir?” she tried to divert their attention, which caused everybody to chuckle. Success.

“My day was really good, I spent most of the afternoon getting smacked around by your man Bucky there but it was all in good fun” Penny smiled at this until Mr Stark decided that this was his moment.

“That reminds me actually, Bucky and Natasha, would you be so kind as to arrange some training time with Penny tomorrow? I think she needs a refresher course in dodging in particular.” Penny’s face flushed furiously and Mr Stark smirked at her in victory. 

Deciding to focus on her food, Penny didn’t see the looks that she was getting but she could feel them all sharply. Next to her Bucky cleared his throat and she looked up to see his raised eyebrow which simply said ‘elaborate’. 

“It was nothing serious, just a few minor stab wounds last night” she explained. 

“*Eight stab wounds*” coughed Mr Stark, she threw him a glare and noticed that more than one of her teammates were looking at her sternly.

“Oh please, raise your hand now if you’re never been stabbed” she said pointedly. The team looked at each other bashfully and not even Ms Potts could raise her hand. 

This seemed to ease some of them, but Natasha still levelled Penny with a terrifying glare. “Five o’clock tomorrow, do not be late” 

“Yes Ma’am” Penny breathed out in defeat and slumped back in her chair.

This seemed to appease most who considered the problem now being dealt with by the best person for the job, none of them envied Penny at that moment. 

She noticed that Bucky was still looking down at her though, so she raised her eyebrows questioningly. 

“ты в порядке?” Are you okay? 

“я в порядке, просто царапина, обещаю.” I’m fine, just a scratch, I promise.

Bucky grunted eloquently and Penny hid a smile as he turned back to his conversation with the Captain.

“On a slightly happier note, Penny also has some other news to share!” Mr Stark announced and Penny groaned sufferingly. 

“Seriously Mr Stark? I really don’t see why they would need to know!” Penny reasoned. Based on the grins on their faces, she realised that most knew already.

“But Penny we’re always interested in hearing about your schooling” said Clint “I think I speak for everyone when I say that we are invested in your education young lady” he continued. Penny narrowed her eyes dangerously as most of the team nodded along “it’s important that we hear about any prospective field trips, especially when they have such potential to help you prosper” he mocked.

“You’re going on a field trip?” Asked Captain Rogers. 

“Yes” she confirmed, offering no elaboration this time.

“Where too?” Asked Wanda next to her.

“Hell” Penny grumbled under her breath.

Mr Stark let out a bark of laughter “Here, she’s got a tour here on Friday!” he explained in glee. 

“It starts at 9:30 so everyone clear your diary for the day okay?” 

“Mr Stark!” Penny cried indignantly which caused a chorus of laughter. 

“Seriously, let me make this abundantly clear, none of you are welcome on this tour!” She could tell that this statement had zero effect. Those who would have respected her boundaries anyway (read: Ms Potts, Bruce, Rhodey, Hope and Vision) were not phased and everyone else simply took her declaration as a challenge.

The grins on the faces of Clint, Bucky, Sam and Tony were particularly worrying.

The remainder of the dinner involved Mr Stark explaining in detail the tours itinerary while Penny sulked in her chair. 

\--  
The team watched a movie after dinner and as it was Penny’s turn to choose, she forced them all to watch Barbie and the Nutcracker as punishment for being mean to her. She also secretly loved this film as she remembered watching it with May and Ben a long time ago. One of the things that she did appreciate is that no one teased her on the choice, most even paid attention and those that were not interested held quiet conversations between themselves. 

By the time she slipped into her bed at midnight, having just finished a couple hours of patrolling, she was feeling physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. At least she managed to get in some good sleep with only one nightmare that woke her at six in the morning. She supposed there may be some sense in that pesky curfew but she’d never admit it. 

As she sat in the kitchen eating all of the food that Captain Rogers was putting on her plate, she took a moment to feel grateful that she could be a part of this family, even though they constantly teased her and the team bickered nonstop, she knew that they all cared for each other and that they all cared for her. Feeling a warm glow envelope her, she hopped off her stool, put her plate and fork in the dishwasher and gave Steve a quick hug before rushing off to meet Happy who was giving her a lift. 

Steve smiled at the quick hug and happily continued with making breakfast for the team. When Bucky stumbled in 10 mins later Steve was still smiling.

“What’s got you in such a good mood?” he asked, sounding slightly offended which was probably due to the early hour. 

“Just Penny being Penny” Steve explained which Bucky smiled at.

\--

When Penny got to school she found MJ and Ned waiting for her at her locker. 

“Morning guys!” She smiled.

“Hey Loser” MJ responded, although she didn’t look up from her book Penny could see a slight upturn of her lips.

“Morning Penny! How was your evening?” Ned asked happily. 

“Yeah it was good thanks, everyone was being awful but it was still a good time you know?” 

Ned smiled; he did understand but only as he’d know Penny so long. She’d had a hard childhood and hadn’t experienced a lot of big family banter; he was glad that the Avengers could give her that now. 

“Do they know about the field trip?” MJ asked, finally looking up from her book with a grin.

Penny rolled her eyes “Yes they know, Mr Stark made sure of that and apparently it was all his idea in the first place.” 

“Genius” MJ commented.

“Don’t encourage him” Penny quipped. 

“Did he tell you what would be involved?” Ned asked eagerly.

“Yep” Penny stated before shutting her locker and walking away.

“Oh come on Penny, you have to tell me, I’m your best friend, I need to know!” Ned whined as he chased after her. 

MJ chuckled as she pushed away from the lockers and followed the two losers that she had somehow found herself attached to. It was nice to see Penny feeling better, she tried to hide it but MJ could always tell when she was having a bad day, either mentally or as a result of her extra curriculars. She just hoped that this Friday could finally bring an end to the bullying. Even if Flash does somehow grow a braincell and leaves Penny alone for the duration of the trip, MJ just needed to find a stray Avenger along the way and she could let them know that he was a problem that they needed to deal with. 

\--

At 5 o’clock on the dot, Penny made her way into the Avengers training room, mentally trying to psyche herself up for an afternoon of intense sparring. When she saw that both Clint and Captain Rogers were waiting for her along with Bucky and Natasha, she let out an audible gulp. 

All four turned in unison and were sporting matching grins. 

“Hey Kid!” Clint called, ruining their intimidating visage. “Ready for some fun?” He asked cheerily. 

Penny dropped her gym bag on the floor and started stretching her arms across her chest. “Let’s do this!” she called back.

The next three hours consisted of non-stop training scenarios where Penny had to disarm and disable all four attackers at once, sometimes she could use her webs and other times she couldn’t. In every scenario all 4 attackers were holding at least one knife.  
By the end of the session the only Avenger who did not have a scratch was Natasha who stood there smugly looking so god damn perfect while Penny laid on the mat breathing heavily, covered in bruises and blood. 

“Can I just point out that y’all just cut me way more than eight times” she gasped out. 

Bucky laughed “Please, they were just scratches” he teased her. 

Too out of breath to respond verbally, she lifter a heavy arm to flip him the finger in response, before letting it flop back onto the mat.

The four sadists laughed before Natasha offered her a hand up. 

“Come on, go take a shower, dinner will be ready in a bit” Penny took the hand grudgingly and did as she was told. The others all went to shower as well before they all met up in the common room feeling only slightly more alive. 

The days leading up the field trip were full enough that Penny didn’t have much time to think on all that could go wrong. As Wednesday was an actual internship day, she spent the afternoon on the R&D floor and flitted around the many ongoing projects to lend a hand as needed. The Interns found their allotted Penny time to be invaluable and she was well loved among them all. The fact that they would see more of Mr Stark when Penny was around was just a bonus in their eyes. Thursday was supposed to be a lab day with Mr Stark but this was derailed, much to his chagrin, by the arrival of Harley. So instead of spending some quality time with his protégé, he sat sulking while the teens spent hours catching up, mocking him, and quoting meme’s. He did perk up when he realised that he could pay back the betrayal tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the Kudos and Comments!
> 
> I was going to post the rest of the fic on Saturday but I grew impatient :P
> 
> Also yeah I do not own these characters or Marvel.

Penny did not find it easy to get out of bed on the morning of the field trip, she had been awake since about 5:30, having forgone patrol the previous night, and had been listening to Aunt May get ready for the last half an hour. As much as she knew that she should really get up, all of the anxiety from before had resurfaced and she hated herself for not taking the time in the past week to think of some solution to this problem. 

Aunt May eventually knocked on her door and told her to get up. “I’m sick Aunt May, please don’t make me go!” Penny pleaded. Aunt May let out a musical laugh at this “Nice try Honey, now get ready, remember that you’re staying at the tower tonight!”. 

Penny sat up begrudgingly, she got ready as slowly as she dared and took her sweet time getting to school. A part of her hoped that she would miss the bus and would get to skip the whole ordeal. 

No such luck apparently as she could see that the class were still milling around in front of the school by the time she reached it. Mr Harrington was looking around anxiously with his list in hand. As he caught sight of her he breathed a sigh of relief and finally ushered everyone onto the bus. 

Penny sat down heavily next to an enthusiastic Ned and an indifferent MJ. 

“OH MY GOD PENNY I’M SO EXCITED! Do you think we’ll get to see the arc reactor? Do you think we’ll get to see an avenger? I really hope it’s Thor because damn he is fine! Do you think we’ll see the Black Widow? I think I’d die!”

“Dude!” Penny said while placing a hand over his mouth. While he stopped talking, she could see in his eyes that he was still thrilled, his whole body was practically vibrating. 

“You need to calm the hell down man, yes I think that we’ll see the reactor. And while I hope that we don’t, I am certain that we will see an Avenger. I’m sorry but Thor is not on Earth. And dear god do I hope that we don’t see Natasha.” She responded quietly. 

Ned’s excitement didn’t seem at all deterred and as soon as she removed her hand he whispered “What about Bruce Banner, do you think we’ll see him?” Penny laughed defeatedly and slumped back in her seat. 

“I really don’t know Ned, it would make sense to see Bruce out of all of them but I did tell the team that they were not welcome so he may be one of the few who actually listens”

Ned looked offended at that admission. 

“Why would you tell them that?” he asked, and Penny felt slightly guilty at his sad tone. 

“Listen, why don’t I see if you can come over at some point and you can meet everyone?” she offered kindly. Ned immediately resumed his exited rambling “Dude that would be so freaking cool, I will actually love you forever if you did that!”.

Unfortunately for both, Flash had picked up on that last part of the conversation and apparently couldn’t stop himself from butting in. 

“Ouch Sorry Fatso but I don’t think the Dyke is interested. Hey Penis, is this what put you off guys, the thought of getting frisky with this freak?” Flash asked Penny Snidely.

“Piss off Flash” Penny spat in anger.

“Ooooh, look who’s getting feisty!” Flash laughed mockingly.

“Flash why don’t you sit the fuck down before I make you sit down” MJ threatened. 

Flash sneered at her but sat down none the less. Penny sent MJ a grateful smile and laid a comforting hand on Ned’s arm. “You okay?” she asked carefully.

“Yeah I’m fine, he’s just such an arsehole you know?” 

“Yeah” Penny conceded. “Want to watch the last episode of the Mandalorian for the trip?” Ned smiled at her “Yeah sounds good”.

\--

As they pulled up to the Tower, the class all looked up in awe at the famous A on the side of the building. 

“Duuuude” Ned whispered. 

Penny rolled her eyes and dragged Ned into the foyer with the rest. 

Mr Harrington made his way up to the welcome desk and had a word with the receptionist Kelly whom Penny had spoken to on a few occasions. 

As they waited, Penny couldn’t help herself from looking around nervously, trying to spot any skulking avengers. 

“What’s the matter Penis, afraid that someone will come and arrest you for slander?”

“Shut. Up. Flash!” Penny hissed. 

Luckily he didn’t have much choice in that as Mr Harrington returned with their tour guide. Penny gulped in fear. It was Harley, of course it was fucking Harley. He was here for a long weekend to spend time with Tony who was basically his dad. Harley and Penny had gotten along brilliantly from the beginning, much to Tony’s relief, and they’d easily fallen into the role of bantering siblings.

The grin on Harleys face was all she needed to know that this had been planned from the start. 

He stopped before the group and put on his peppy tour guide persona, clapping his hand together.

“Good morning Midtown Tech, I hope you’re all ready for a day full of adventure!” The class cheered in response. 

“Before we begin, I’m just going to go over some ground rules and then I’ll pass out your access passes. These have your photo and your name on them and must be worn on your outermost piece of clothing, otherwise our head of security will not be Happy!”

“Seems harsh to fire the man” Penny muttered under her breath, only loud enough for Ned and MJ to hear, both of whom smiled in response.

As Harley went over the rules for the day, Penny felt a tingle on the back of her neck, she looked instinctively over to the bank of elevators and was just in time to see a smirking Clint and Sam heading into one of them. Clint was cocky enough to offer her a jaunty wave as the doors closed. 

Penny rolled her eyes, how she would make it through today without murdering someone she did not know. 

As Harley finished with the announcements, he started pulling out passes, calling for the student’s names and carefully making sure that the picture matched the person. Penny pulled out her own pass and attached it to her jacket. Really Happy had only given her this pass yesterday with the explanation that it was set up to have an intern’s clearance level. Penny had accepted it in relief, glad that somebody was thinking about how they would hide the fact that she was not an average intern. 

The thought of people finding out her identify sent another spark of fear through her. She took a moment to focus on controlling her breathing and to keep her face clear of emotions. 

When Ned and MJ’s names were called, there was an edge of familiarity in Harley’s voice that was not missed by everyone. MJ smirked at the fact that her pass really said MJ. As Harley handed it to her she whispered a greeting. “Hey, you’re the kid that threatened Stark with a potato gun right?” 

“The one and only” he whispered back whilst rustling through the box for the next pass. 

“Dope, we should talk at some point” MJ responded discreetly. 

“Most definitely” he said before calling out the next name. 

“What was that about?” Penny asked as MJ walked back over, having heard the whole exchange.

“Just thought I’d introduce myself to your family, seemed like the right thing to do” she smirked. 

Penny blushed at the potential implication of that. Penny had never openly admitted to anyone that she was attracted to MJ but there had been an undercurrent of tension between them for months now. Penny’s stomach sparkled with the possibility that MJ might return the feelings. 

Once the passes were all distributed Harley led them all to the security check point. Thankfully Flash was distracted enough by something with his own face on it that he didn’t notice that Penny’s name was never called. 

Harley swiped his own pass and the class were startled by the voice of FRIDAY coming from the gate “Harley Keener - Clearance: Gold”. 

“Don’t mind her, that’s just FRIDAY, she’s the buildings AI.” Harley explained. 

Pushing himself to the front, Flash swiped his card next and Friday announced “Eugene Thompson – Clearance: White”

“What are the different clearance levels?” Asked Betty, Penny was curious on this herself.

“There are lot of different clearance levels which only the security staff are really familiar with, the important ones that you’ll come across today are White which is visitor, Green which is Intern, Blue which is for full time staff and Purple which is for Heads of Department or Lab Leaders. While it’s important to be respectful to everyone you meet, I would advise maintaining strict professionalism around anyone with a Purple badge as they may end up deciding if you get hired someday.

The class nodded at this “You didn’t say what clearance Gold is” Abe pointed out. 

Harley smirked “You spotted that huh? Gold is actually all access; I work closely with Mr Stark and Ms Potts so I need to be able to access anywhere that they may be.” He explained to the team who all looked on in awe. Being around someone who actually worked with the CEO of SI and with Iron Man himself was like being in the presence of royalty it seemed. 

Once everyone had recovered from that revelation, the rest of the team made it through the security gate one by one until it was just Penny, MJ and Mr Harrington left. MJ nodded at Penny to go first, she wanted to see the classes faces when Penny’s position at SI was validated by FRIDAY. 

Taking a breath Penny swiped her card and waited “Penny Parker - Clearance: Green” she sighed in relief and walked through, catching Harleys smirk. 

“You’ve got to be shitting me!” cried Flash loudly. Harley swung around sharply. “Excuse me Eugene, is there a problem?” Flash backtracked quickly “Oh no sir, no problem” Harley nodded suspiciously. 

He tried to catch Penny’s eye to see what her reaction was but she was now facing away as MJ walked through the gate. Harley caught the eye of MJ however and could see that she was shooting daggers at the Eugene kid. 

Harley made a mental note to have that chat with MJ sooner rather than later. 

As their teacher made it through the gate, they all made their way towards the elevators; the whole class where muttering amongst themselves. Harley picked up some snippets and pieced together that no one had actually believed that Penny worked at SI. Well at least that had been set straight now, maybe he could take them into a few specific labs to further cement that Penny was a fixed entity here. 

\--

When they reached their first stop on the tour, Harley spread his arms in a grand gesture. “Welcome, Midtown Tech, to the Avengers Museum!”.

“This is open to all SI staff and guests so please be respectful of other people who are viewing the exhibits. On the left you’ll find the history of Stark Industries and on the right, you’ll find the Avengers displays.”

The class looked around excitedly, they were in a big open space and the right-hand side was split into areas for each Avenger. Penny spotted that there was even a section for Spider-Girl which was news to her. Harley invited everyone to wander around freely and explained that they would be here for 40 minutes. He then began a guided tour of the museum for people to follow should they wish. 

Penny wandered mindlessly over to her section which was next to Iron Man’s. There on a podium was her first suit, she could tell that it was the real suit and for the life of her she could not figure out how and when Mr Stark had taken it. Underneath was a plaque which gave a vague description of her origins. Around her were other displays like a replica of her original web shooters, this had a plaque which explained that the webbing was synthetic rather than organic and that both the formula and the web shooters themselves were her own creation. Penny found herself choking up as she read a section of a plaque which said that while Spider-Girl was the newest and youngest member of the team, she was considered a strong ally by all and was even Iron Man’s favourite Avenger.

“Duuuude, this is amazing” Ned whispered behind her.

“Yeah” Penny sighed back, she tried to discreetly wipe the tears from her eyes before turning around. MJ walked over and ran a comforting hand over her back.

This was honestly the sweetest thing that anyone had ever done for Penny.

“You surprised kid?” came quietly from a man stood a few meters away. He appeared to be examining a plaque in the Iron Man section which Penny found amusing. 

“Mr Stark?” she whispered, looking around quickly to make sure that none of her classmates where around. 

He lifted his cap and winked at her discretely. 

“Don’t worry this isn’t when I’m going to embarrass you” he teased “I just wanted to see your reaction” 

Penny beamed at him “This is amazing Mr Stark, I love it!” he smiled back at her before looking over her shoulder. 

Penny whirled around in fear but could see that it was just Ned. He was staring at Mr Stark with his jaw practically on the floor. 

Penny laughed “Ned don’t freak out I beg of you” he nodded dumbly. Turning back to her mentor she made the introductions. “Mr Stark this is my best friend Ned” both Penny and Mr Stark looked at Ned but he was still just nodding silently. “He’s very happy to meet you” Penny said in his place. 

Blushing only slightly, Penny then gestured to the third member of the group “and this is MJ, the scariest woman I know” MJ smirked at that while Tony raised an impressed eyebrow. 

“Seriously, scarier that Natasha?” he asked. 

“Yep” Penny nodding her head meaningfully, refusing to admit to herself that any of that fear could be born from unacknowledged attraction.

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you both” he offered “Penny has told me a lot about you” this elicited a squeak from Ned which Tony just smiled at “Anyway I should get going, I’ll see you all later!” 

“You’d better not Mr Stark” Penny hissed after him, but he was already making his way to the door with his cap pulled down low. 

“Iron Man knows my name” Ned said softly after a moment. MJ and Penny both laughed at this before dragging him away to look around. 

They went to all of the displays in turn and Penny took great pleasure in reading the plaques about the people that she considered family. There was even a section for Pietro which brought another tear to her eye. Wanda had told Penny about her brother, she focussed on their antics as children, but Penny could tell that there was a lot left unsaid. She touched a hand to the plaque in respect. 

As they continued to browse the displays, they caught snippets of their classmate’s conversations. One point that Penny found particularly nauseating was when she overheard Flash talking about how hot he thought Spider-Girl was, he followed this with a detailed description of a truly fucked up fantasy which involved her saving him and him ‘thanking’ her. Penny physically gagged at this. 

Luckily he was smart enough to say this quietly and she only heard due to her enhanced hearing. 

What she did notice was that there were two figures who also appeared to react at the same time as her. Two well-built men with their super stealthy baseball caps were stood on the opposite side of the museum. The leaner of the two now had a vice like grip on the other who appeared ready to storm across the room and kill a bitch. 

Penny cleared her throat pointedly which drew the attention of Bucky and Steve. “What are you two doing here?” she hissed under her breath. MJ looked at her strangely before following her gaze to the super soldiers across the room.

“I’m going to kill that little prick over there, what are you doing here?” Bucky asked and Steve swatted him on the arm before offering Penny an apologetic look. 

“No you are not going to kill him, it’s just a stupid teenage boys deluded fantasy” Penny hissed back. MJ narrowed her eyes at this, she then looked towards the Spider-Girl exhibit and put two and two together once she saw Flash laughing with his friends. Her jaw clenched at this before she turned to look at the men that Penny was talking to. She figured that they must have super hearing if they were holding a hushed conversation 15 yards apart. “Kill him” she muttered fiercely. 

The two men seemed startled by this. 

“MJ!” Penny cried in alarm, swatting her arm in the exact way that Steve had done to Bucky. 

“Oh please, it’s way past due at this point” she said without remorse. 

Penny huffed at this before turning back to make sure that Steve and Bucky hadn’t followed through with MJ’s request. “Listen please just go okay? I’ll talk to you both later” Bucky held her eye for a full minute before he allowed Steve to pull him out of the room. 

Sighing in relief Penny turned back to MJ and swatted her arm again for good measure “and who’s side are you on?” she asked in exasperation. 

What she wasn’t expecting was the serious look that MJ gave her “I’m on your side, what about you?” Penny took a step back at that and before she could recover MJ had let her indifferent façade take over again as she strolled away to look at Natasha’s exhibit. Penny shook her head before rushing to catch up.

The rest of their time in the museum was uneventful. Penny used her enhanced senses to shepherd her friends as far away from Flash as possible which led to an enjoyable experience for them all. At the end of the 40 minutes they met up with Harley at the entrance with smiles on their faces. 

\--

The next step along the tour was an intern lab in the Robotics section, Penny was torn between being happy that she might get to discreetly show off K-9 and BB8 to Ned and being nervous that her fellow interns would be the first to embarrass her. She was lucky to have avoided incident so far but she knew it couldn’t last forever.

As Harley led them into the lab Penny felt her spider senses tingle. She eyed the room warily, looking past the tired interns handling drills, hammers, and soldering irons, before focussing on Flash who was making his way carefully to her side of the group. 

Penny resolved to stand her ground but stay vigilant. 

Harley introduced the team to the Head of this lab, Dr Ericson, a tall woman with brilliant blond hair which was tied neatly up into a bun. She had the air of a no-nonsense sort, but Penny knew that she was a softie. Dr Ericson welcomed them all and when her eyes found Penny, she flashed her a smile but otherwise did not acknowledge her. Bless her, such a sweetheart. She then went on to explain what they did in this lab. Just as she was showing the team one of the projects which an intern was currently working on Flash sidled up to Penny. 

“Wow Penis, guess I know how you got the internship now, lucky for you that the person hiring was a chick huh? Bet that was a fun interview.” he sneered at her, raising his eyebrows suggestively “Then again, I doubt your preference would really have stopped you from sucking your way into a job if it had been a dude” he continued harshly. 

Penny’s stomach dropped in dread, she let her anger at his comment fade quickly as she looked around in fear. 

No one in the vicinity appeared to have heard his comment however she was sure that FRIDAY would have picked it up.

She pulled out her phone quickly and sent a message to FRIDAY. 

**Penny** – Please don’t tell Tony!

 **FRIDAY** – I am afraid my protocols dictate that I must report all incidents of harassment.

Sweat started to bead on Penny’s forehead, thinking quickly she tried to find a work around.

 **Penny** – Do they dictate who you inform?

 **FRIDAY** – I am required to inform security and the appropriate line manager of the parties involved. 

Penny panicked, that meant Happy and Tony which was the absolute worst outcome.

 **Penny** – FRIDAY wait, please let me think for 5 mins. 

**Penny** \- is there any leniency in who you notify? Especially considering the nature of the harassment.

 **Penny** – I don’t exactly want Mr Stark to hear what he said, or any bloke for that matter.

…

 **FRIDAY** – if I were to inform Ms Potts then this would satisfy the requirements. Would this be acceptable?

Penny breathed a sigh of relief.

 **Penny** – Yes that would be acceptable. Is Pepper busy?

 **FRIDAY** – Ms Potts has meetings scheduled until 14:45

 **Penny** – Okay please make sure to tell her that I am fine, that I’m willing to talk to her about this tonight and please ask that she not tell anyone else. Feel free to point out that if she does tell anyone, the likelihood of them dealing with it in a level-headed manner is zero. 

**FRIDAY** – I shall pass on your request. 

**Penny** – Thankyou Friday! Love U!Xx 

**Penny** \- Just as a precautionary request, if you do happen to notice any other ‘incidents of harassment’ involving myself. Please inform Ms Potts rather than anyone else. 

…

 **FRIDAY** – I have updated my protocols accordingly; Ms Potts shall be notified primarily. This shall remain in effect until either Ms Potts, Mr Stark or yourself request otherwise. 

Penny smirked at the formality. 

**Penny** – Thanks again FRIDAY, you’re a peach😉

 **FRIDAY** – Indeed

Penny slipped her phone back into her pocket and wiped her palms against her jeans. As an afterthought she remembered Flash but it seemed that he had wondered off after getting zero reaction to his crass remark. She smiled in relief, keeping this prick alive was becoming a very stressful job at this point. 

\-- 

40 floors above that lab, Pepper was sitting in a meeting with the board of directors. A notification came through from FRIDAY on her Stark Watch and she glanced at the screen whilst the CFO continued presenting. The subject of the notification said ‘Harassment Report Re Penny Parker - Please don’t tell Tony! …’ before the text cut out. 

She raised an eyebrow and her mind started racing at what that could possibly be about.

Politely excusing herself, she went into the hall to check the full alert; this included a message from Friday detailing both the incident itself and the request from Penny and attached were a video of the interaction in question as well as the transcript of Penny’s conversation with Friday. 

After watching the video Pepper reluctantly accepted that she could not tell Tony, at least not while the kid was in the building. She also accepted that by withholding this information from him, he would be rightfully angry with her, and she wasn’t sure how easy it would be for him to forgive her. 

Pepper took a moment to plan her next actions carefully. 

The difficulty was that she needed Penny to be able to trust her in this. If somebody was giving her a hard time, then it was better that Penny feel safe enough to talk to her about it, without the risk of Pepper betraying that confidence. Especially with the sort of accusation that the classmate had made. Unfortunately, this wasn’t something that she was entirely unfamiliar with and she could certainly empathise with not wanting Tony to find out. It had been years before she’d ever told Tony about the sort of things that she’d been accused of along the way. 

Making her mind up she pressed the call button on Penny’s contact. 

\--

Penny felt her phone vibrate and pulled it out discretely to check, on seeing that it was Ms Potts calling she felt her stomach clench in anxiety. She glanced around at the class and could see that everybody was distracted by the demonstration of K-9 that her friend Saul was giving.

Managing to catch Harleys eye she pointed to her phone and the door behind, he nodded in understanding and she slipped out without interruption. 

“Ms Potts?” She answered cautiously. 

“Are you okay sweetheart?” 

Penny smiled at that “Yeah I’m fine, I promise”

“Good, I want to talk with you after the tour okay?”

“Are you going to tell anyone?” Penny asked in fear.

“I want to talk to you properly first and then we’ll go from there”

Penny breathed a sigh of relief; she was doing that a lot today “Thank you Ms Potts”

“Penny, honey, I need to be clear that we will be sorting this out and Tony will need to be told at some point, not necessarily the specifics but definitely the nature of the problem. I also imagine that one of us will be having a meeting with your principal on Monday. What he said to you was not acceptable in any way. Do you understand?”

“I understand” Penny gulped.

“Good, are you sure you’re okay?” 

“Yeah I’m okay, I just need to get through this day”

“Okay well I should get back to my meeting” Penny cringed at that.

“Sorry for interrupting it” she apologised meekly.

“Don’t be ridiculous Penny, you’re more important to me than this company is … also what’s your favourite ice cream?”

Thrown by the change of topic Penny stumbled over her response “Wha … err... it’s … chocolate Fudge Brownie?”

“Excellent, I’ll have some picked up for our talk later”

Penny smiled at that, it sounded like a girls night rather than a dreaded conversation in which she imagined she would have to confess the severity of the bullying she experienced. 

“Sounds great Ms Potts, thanks for understanding”

“Of course sweetheart, I’ll see you later okay?

“See you later Ms Potts” she said before hanging up the call. 

\--

Just as Penny pulled the phone away from her face the door to the lab swung open harshly, it would have smacked into her had she not stepped quickly out of the way. 

Gripping the handle tightly was Mr Harrington and he did not look happy. 

“Penny what on earth do you think you are doing?” he hissed at her. 

“I’m sorry Sir, I just …” she gestured helplessly to her phone which did not seem to appease him.

“Were the rules not clear enough when they stated that **under no circumstances where you to separate from the group**?” he asked angrily. 

“I’m really sorry Sir I just had to take a quick ...” she tried again whilst lifting her phone. 

“Give me your phone” He commanded, holding his hand out expectantly.

“Err, I’ll put it away sir” She tried to bargain.

“Give. Me. Your Phone.” He said clearly. Reluctantly she handed it over and he slipped it into his pocket. 

“You’ll get it back when we return to school, you will also have a detention after school on Monday. I know that you have bad track record when it comes to field trips but I thought you at least respected me enough to not jeopardise this opportunity for your school and your classmates”

Penny’s head bowed in shame at this, she did appreciate that this was a great opportunity for her classmates, and she understood where Mr Harrington was coming from. He couldn’t know the specifics if she wouldn’t share them. Then again if he just paid attention to what was going on right under his nose then maybe this whole situation could have been avoided, she thought bitterly.

They made their way back into the lab and Penny was glad to see that the class had moved to the opposite side at this point. The only people who caught her walk of shame, physically escorted by Mr Harrington, were a gleeful Flash (because of course he would see) and a concerned, MJ, Ned and Harley. 

Harley’s gaze flashed dangerously to the hand on her shoulder, but she ducked her eyes and joined the back of the group in silence.

\--

Trying to get back into her teacher’s good graces, Penny made a conscious effort to appear more engaged as they continued the tour. She offered answers to questions, avoided talking to Ned or MJ under her breath and resolutely ignored the many jibes that Flash aimed at her.

The annoyed expression which was growing on Harley’s face suggested that he’d caught a few of those but he was holding his tongue so far. 

Whilst there were a few interns that acknowledged her, this didn’t pose a problem as the class had already accepted that she did in fact work here and Penny simply offered polite nods in response. 

Thankfully they were smart enough and professional enough to read the room before they came bounding over.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly and eventually the group progressed to the BioChem labs. As they approached the door, Penny could hear the familiar mutterings of her second favourite Scientist. Penny grinned to herself at this, of all the Avengers, Dr Banner was the safest for the class to interact with. He was also worshipped by the majority of her peers; they were a STEM school after all. 

Wary of the watchful eye of Mr Harrington, Penny brushed her shoulder against Neds subtly, he glanced at her quizzically and she flashed him a quick wink. His eyebrows pulled together and as the door to the lab hissed open, the entire class gasped in unison.

“Holy Fucking Shit” Ned squeaked as the glorious god of the nerds stood in front of them. Bruce was hunched over a workbench scrolling through a Stark Pad and ruffling his hair in frustration. He continued to mutter to himself which Penny knew was a sign that he needed a nap, the ink on his face and the granola bar that was sticking out of his breast pocket just lent to the overworked scientist vibe.

“Good Morning Dr Banner, this is an unexpected honour” Bruce’s head snapped up at that, completely oblivious to the 25 adoring teenagers that were looking at him in amazement.

“Hmm? Oh hello Harley, I thought you weren’t coming until Thursday?”

“…It’s Friday Bruce” Harley offered gently. 

“What about FRIDAY, is she okay?” he asked, looking to the ceiling in concern. 

“No, I mean today is Friday. I arrived yesterday. We spoke last night. About the latest revision to the Accords? … You called Thaddeus Ross an ignorant troglodyte?” Penny and MJ coughed in unison at that; at the look from her teacher, Penny ducked her head quickly and pursed her lips in a valiant attempt to hide her smile. 

Bruce shook his head to clear the fog “Right, sorry Harley”

“No worries Dr Banner, would you mind if I introduced you to these students from Midtown Tech?”

“Midtown?!” Bruce’s eyes widened in shock, swinging around he finally seemed to notice that he was surrounded. Immediately he found Penny’s eyes in the back and she flashed him a quick smile in greeting. 

“Oh damn. I’m sorry Penny! I know you wanted your space; I’ve been working on that problem that Tony asked me to look at but for the life of me I cannot solve it!”

Penny’s face flushed and suddenly every eye was on her. 

She cleared her throat awkwardly “Err .. it … it’s fine Dr Banner Sir” she looked to Harley in a silent plea for help but he just smirked at her. 

“What’s the problem that you’re working on Dr Banner?” asked Sally in a rare moment of bravery and Penny’s shoulders sagged as people started looking away from her.

“Oh, well, actually it was a problem that Penny raised originally” he admitted sheepishly, and Penny shot him a betrayed look as the class turned back to staring at her. 

She noticed Harley snigger to himself behind his clipboard. She also noticed that Flash’s face was so tensed in anger that there was a vein bulging on his forehead. 

“What was the problem Penny?” Harley asked, his eyes glinting. 

“I, err, I actually don’t think I’m allowed to say” she confessed.

Harley slapped his forehead dramatically “Doh, of course you can’t, sorry Penny!” he then turned to the rest of the class to explain. “See Penny sometimes works on classified projects for the Avengers. Without going into any specifics, she has assisted in upgrades for the Black Widow, Hawkeye and Spider-Girl, to name a few.” He then turned casually to Bruce as if he had not just ruined her life. “So Bruce, do you have time to answer a few more questions?”.

Bruce nodded in agreement and they waited for the class to ask anything. Unfortunately, they were all still gaping at Penny who felt like her face was on fire. Both Ned and MJ were smirking in victory while Harley had the biggest grin that she had ever seen.

“No questions for the esteemed Dr Banner guys?” he prompted, after letting her stew in misery for a few minutes. 

Ned took this opportunity to ask Bruce a question about his research in Gamma radiation and slowly the rest of the class recovered enough to ask more questions. A few questions were about Penny and her role at SI but Harley took great pleasure in fielding those by claiming that they couldn’t talk about that as it was Classified – Top Secret. 

Penny was ready to shoot him in the head at this point … with a potato … it would be poetic. Mr Stark would probably give her a raise. 

\--

Once Dr Banner had answered enough questions, Harley confiscated his StarkPad and told him to go sleep. When he protested Harley threatened to tell Nat and Bruce was quickly on his way.

Then Harley clapped his hand together “Right, I’m not sure about you lot but I am starving! We’ll go up to the food hall, have lunch until 13:00 and then we’ll move onto the really fun stuff. Does that sound good?” The class cheered and Penny‘s stomach also agreed.

As they made their way back to the elevator Penny allowed herself to be tripped twice and shoulder checked three times by Flash. She was getting really tired of his shit at this point so she just focussed on her breathing. 

As they made their way into the food hall Penny had to take a moment to adjust to the sensory overload. 

“Well guys and girls, this is the Food Hall - there’s a few different options but the cost is covered by the trip so just grab a tray and get whatever you want. When you get to the till just give them this chip” he explained, handing out little tokens. 

“When you’re finished eating bring the tray to those racks over there and throw any rubbish in the appropriate bin. I’ll meet you all back here at 13:00 so you have an hour but please don’t leave the food hall; your passes won’t give you access without mine so the only risk is that you’ll get trapped in a hallway that you can’t get out of. And finally, over there are the loos!” taking an exaggerated breath he smiled at the group “any questions?” thankfully there weren’t and they all fanned out.

Penny was glad that Mr Harrington didn’t decide that she needed to be chaperoned through lunch as well, infamous troublemaker that she apparently was. 

Soon it was just Penny, Ned, MJ and Harley. She let out a suffering sigh and they all smirked at her.  
“Screw you guys” she muttered. 

“Ahh come one Pen, it’s not been that bad has it?” Harley laughed.

“I’m not talking to you” she glared at him. “What was all that Confidential, Top Secret Bull Shit?” Harley laughed at that, wiping an imaginary tear away. 

“Ha, that was fantastic, your face was so damn red!” 

MJ ran a hand comfortingly up Penny’s arm which helped her loosen up. Something which Harley also noticed. “So, Miss Jones, is it time for our talk yet?”.

MJ considered the fearful look in Penny’s eye “Hmm, lunch first.” And so the four headed to the vendors and each came away with a significant amount of food on their tray. Penny was grateful as they’d all asked for more than they necessarily wanted simply so that she could steal food from their tray without hers looking suspiciously full.

Munching through their lunch they chatted casually about everything and nothing. Despite eating twice as much, Penny was the first to finish her food and so offered to go and grab coffees for MJ and Harley and hot chocolates for her and Ned. 

Making her way across the food hall, she spotted a few more staff members that she recognised and offered them little waves as she walked by. As luck would have it, she also knew the girl in front of her in the queue for the hot drinks machine; they struck up a pleasant conversation about a project that they had collaborated on two weeks prior. When it came to her turn, Penny got the drinks and balanced them carefully as she turned to make her way back. What she hadn’t noticed was that Flash and his friends were waiting behind her in line. Penny tried to sidestep them, but Flash moved to block her way. 

“Listen Penis, I don’t know what perverted act you had to pull to get an internship here but it doesn’t make you hot shit all of a sudden. I don’t care if you sucked off Tony Stark himself, when he realises that he can have me as an intern, he will drop you like a used condom. Face is Penis, you’re still just the Poor Orphaned Dyke who’s only friends are a fat little baby and a psycho bitch.”  
This last comment enraged Penny, she could handle the harassment against her but she wouldn’t let him insult her friends, it defeated the point of her taking the abuse if they were targeted by association.

“Jesus Christ will you just shut the fuck up Flash! You need to get over the fact that I am just smarter than you are. The fact that you still have this deluded belief that anybody thinks otherwise, despite our scores literally being announced in class, is just testament to how thick you are! Everyone knows that your father bought your place at Midtown, he even bought your place on the AcaDec team; clearly not even the all powerful daddy could convince the school to actually put your stupid arse in a starting position or we’d be the laughing stock.”

“Seriously, you talk shit about my friends, as if they’re something I should be ashamed of, but Ned and MJ are some of the best people that I have ever met. To be clear Flash, they are smarter than you are, they are funnier than you are, and they are kinder than you are. That’s the crux of it, they’re just better people! You could have excelled at that Flash, put all of this energy that you focus on being an egotistical prick and funnelled it into being a decent human being. Maybe then people would actually like you and not just your dad’s money!”

Once Penny had caught her breath, she instantly felt guilty for how far she’d taken it. “Listen I’m sorry Flash but you can’t just belittle and harass someone every day for four god damn years and not expect a reaction”

Flash’s face was murderous, he was literally seething, and Penny could see that his fists were shaking. 

Realising that she may have backed herself into a bit of a corner she looked around carefully. Flash was straight in front of her and his lackies, who also looked like they were itching for a fight, were blocking her way on either side. With the drinks machine behind her and the four full cups that she was still balancing, she was in a rather vulnerable position.

“Remember that you are literally stood in the middle of Avengers Tower before you decide to physically atta…”

Penny was cut off as Flash shoved her viciously into the drinks machine. All four drinks spilled over her at this and she hissed in pain as the burning liquid covered her arms and spread across her stomach and legs. 

Flash shoved her again, this time holding her against the machine with a vice like grip on her arms.  
“You’re gonna fucking regret talking back to me you uppity little bitch” he hissed in her ear and Penny’s nose wrinkled at the feel of his hot breath on her face. 

She glanced behind him and mercifully there was no one else around them. In fact nobody appeared to have noticed the commotion to the side of the room; she supposed that Flash’s friends had created an effective barrier around them so most would just see a small group of people.

“You think I won’t beat the shit out of you just because you’re a girl?” he threatened, and Penny rolled her eyes. Which admittedly that may not have been the best move. 

“Fucking whore, despite what you think, I’m not stupid enough to kick your face in here and now but you can believe that I’ll be waiting for you every day after school. I hope your precious internship has good health insurance because I’m going to bury your fucking aunt in medical bills.”

Before Flash could elaborate any further on how he would make her pay, oooh so scared, she thought tiredly, one of his friends tapped him on the shoulder sharply. Evidently this was to signal that someone was coming as he immediately released her and they dispersed. Penny was left with her back to the machine, absolutely covered in the drinks, trying to regain her bearings. 

Luckily the person approaching did not seem to have seen anything, it was a member of staff that Penny didn’t recognise, and their eyes were glued to a StarkPad. A common state of being around the tower.

She quickly grabbed some tissues and wiped up the spilt drinks before making her way back to her friends.

As she approached, Ned was scrolling innocently through his phone while Harley and MJ were having a hushed conversation. 

She sat down meekly “err sorry guys, may have had a slight accident with the drinks”

Upon noticing that she was covered in coffee and hot chocolate Ned burst out laughing and she smiled at him.

“What did you do Penny, have a fight with the Vending Machine?” he asked.

“Maybe” Penny laughed, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment. “If you guys still want a drink then I’m happy to go in for round 2 but I really don’t like my chances” Ned laughed more at this.

“No thanks Penny, the smell alone is enough of a caffeine hit.” Penny flipped him off at this before tacking stock of her clothes. She was wearing jeans and a geeky t-shirt with a flannel over-shirt that was rolled up to her elbows. Her arms were still red from the burn but they would probably be fine in a couple of hours. Her t-shirt was grey so the stain was very visible unfortunately, worse than that the jeans showed a very large wet patch down to her knees. Not a great look. On top of that Ned was right, she absolutely stank!

“Damn, what are the chances I can run upstairs and change my clothes real quick?” she asked looking up to Harley with a smile on her face. 

When she caught his expression however her face fell. Glancing at MJ she noticed that she too looked pissed. 

“What the fuck happened?” Harley asked. Ned immediately stopped laughing and looked back to Penny in concern. He quickly caught on that she had made light of a more serious situation.

“Nothing happened, I just shouldn’t try and balance four drink at once” she laughed awkwardly. 

“I have literally seen you run up 40 flights of stairs with 6 bags of takeout and over a dozen drinks” he pointed out. “So don’t bull shit me Penny.” His eyes felt like daggers and she sunk in her seat “Was it that Flash kid? MJ was just explaining that he’s been tormenting and harassing you for years and you refuse to do anything about it or even tell Tony”

Penny looked at MJ in disbelief, but she just glared back at her in challenge. Penny sank further into her seat. 

“It’s not a big deal Harls” 

“Bull. Fucking. Shit.”

“Just drop it okay, I have it under control.” She defended herself. 

“What does that even mean?” He asked, clearly frustrated by how unbothered she seemed to be. Internally he was screaming at the fact that his little sister was being harassed at school and he was too much of a dumb ass to notice. Jesus he had been in the same room as her and some prick had thought they could push her around? 

“It means that I can handle it.” 

“No.”

“What do you mean no? You think I can’t handle it?” she asked, clearly offended but he wasn’t backing down.

“I mean no. I will not let some little snob treat you like trash. Do you even know how dead that kid is?”

“You can’t hurt a kid Harley.”

“Oh I don’t plan to.”

“Harley…”

“Penny!” He ran his hands through hair, struggling to articulate “I just, I just care about you okay? And I really fucking hate the thought of someone messing you.” He said through gritted teeth.

“Yeah I get that” she sighed. 

“You’re like my sister Pen, I don’t think that’s a shock to you and it also shouldn’t be a shock that I’m not gonna let my sister get pushed around” Penny ducked her head, hiding her smile at his admission. 

“Yeah I know Harls, and I think of you like a brother … a really annoying, clearly over protective brother” she said sticking her tongue out and her rolled his eyes.

“Does this mean that you’ll both admit that Iron Man is your dad now?” MJ asked teasingly.

They shared a look and Harley chuckled “I mean I’ve been pushing that angle since I met Tony, day one I was like ‘we’re connected’” he smirked and Penny giggled. 

“Penny?” MJ pushed.

She looked at the three and blushed furiously “Yes okay, IronDad is definitely a thing” she admitted, and they all beamed at her.

“Excellent, so Tony is our dad, Pepper is our mum … who are the cousins?” Harley asked.

Penny took a moment to think about it, scratching absently at a mark on the table “Hmm, I would say that Wanda is the calm cousin that you hang out and gossip with. I guess Vision is technically Mr Stark’s kid so maybe he’s like our older brother … Clint and Scott are the idiot cousins” she declared and Harley nodded in agreement “and Cassie, Coop and Lila are the cute lil cousins that we can corrupt” Penny smiled.

“I weirdly think of Bruce as the grandad.” Harley admitted conspiratorially and she giggled. Yeah that worked, exasperated by the bickering and just a calm solid presence. 

“What about everyone else?” he prompted.

“Nat is the strict aunt who takes no shit but at the same time might help you prank others if she thinks they deserve it” they both laughed at that, remembering her assistance in the great Vent Glitter Bomb fiasco. 

“With Sam, while he is more playful, I still think of him as the mature, responsible uncle like Cap and Rhodey.” 

“Yeah I think it’s the soldier effect, they can’t quite shed the no nonsense, get shit done attitude” Harley explained his thinking. 

“What about Bucky, he was a soldier” Penny countered.

“You tell me.”

“Hmm it’s hard to put a name on it” Penny hesitated “I mean he’s definitely the protective uncle, but he’s also playful and up for just hanging out, like he’s chill and he can banter but the second it gets real, he will shut that shit down and is ready to kill a bitch … but really it’s just because he’s a big softie” she explained, thinking back to when he’d found out about her ‘minor’ stab wounds.

“What about Thor and Loki?” Ned asked.

“Oh god Thor is the eccentric uncle that just has no concept of a personally bubble! Voted most likely to accidently to squeeze the life out of someone because he was happy to see them” she dead panned. “He just has so much energy, even after a seven-hour mission he’s buzzing and looking for someone to play with like a bloody puppy … oh my god dude, Thor is actually like the team’s puppy!” Both Penny and Ned fell about laughing at this. 

“He’s like a Husky that just wants to have fun but doesn’t know it’s own strength” They continued laughing. “What about Loki?” Ned asked happily.

Penny thought about it for a moment.

“Okay so Loki is either the regal cat that watches the puppy in disdain or he’s like the exasperated dog owner who didn’t realise how much work it would be. Just following around the overexcited ball of fur and cleaning up the mess left behind” The double meaning of her words was too much for the friends again.

As Penny recovered from her laughing, she looked up to see MJ smiling fondly at her and Harley smirking down at his phone. 

“Wassup Harls?” she checked her watch but they had another 20 mins until the end of lunch.

“Nothing, we may have to upgrade Clint to protective uncle, who would have guessed” he shrugged at her.

Penny’s face dropped and she snatched the phone from him.

**Avengers Fam Chat**

**KillerPotato** : Hey Guys  
**LegolasEverdeen** : Hey Harls!  
**CaptainTightPants** : Hi Harley ^_^  
**LegolasEverdeen** : How’s the tour going??  
**Widowmaker** : как мой паук? (How is my spider?)  
**LegolasEverdeen** : You still coming up to the training room at 13:00?  
**KillerPotato** : Над ней издеваются. (She is being bullied.)  
**LegolasEverdeen** : I have the best plan xD  
**WinterBean** : FUCKING WAT?  
**LegolasEverdeen** : Lol, if you want in you have to come help set up!  
**Widowmaker** : Clint shut the fuck up!  
**WinterBean** : WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN?  
**KillerPotato** : She is being bullied by one of her classmates, seems like it has been going on for years.  
**BossMan** : Excuse me?  
**KillerPotato** : Yeah Dad, kid by the name of the Eugene ‘Flash’ Thompson  
**BossierMa’am** : Guys no one overreact please!  
**BossMan** : …  
**Widowmaker** : …  
**KillerPotato** : …  
**BossMan** : Pepper?  
**BossierMa’am** : I’m heading to the communal floor, all of you meet me there and we can talk about it.  
**LegolasEverdeen** : Where are you now Harley?  
**KillerPotato** : Food Hall  
**BossierMa’am** : Clint! Meet us at the communal floor.  
**Antz <3Waspz**: Err Clint just disappeared into a vent.  
**CaptainTightPants** : Has anyone got eyes on Bucky?  
**HoneyBear** : He was with me in the gym, but he’s gone now…  
**KillerPotato** : I have eyes on him  
**CaptainTightPants** : Thank god, everyone meet at the communal floor.  
**Widowmaker** : …  
**BossMan** : Give it a second.  
**CaptainTightPants** : SHIT!  
**BossMan** : There it is.  
**BossMan** : … also language.

Penny turned to where Harley was looking, and sure enough Bucky was stood just to the side of the entrance and he appeared to be scoping the room. 

He caught Penny’s eye before looking down at his phone. 

She glanced back down at Harleys phone just as another message came in. 

**WinterBean** : Which one is he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you like my attempt so far! 
> 
> Sorry to leave this chapter here, I promise the final instalment will be posted by the end of Saturday at the latest Xx


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The third and final chapter, enjoy!

Penny rushed over to Bucky and grabbed his arm, dragging him into the hallway and around several corners before he eventually held his ground and they pulled to a stop.

“Are you really getting bullied?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. 

“Bucky, it’s not a big deal okay?” She looked around awkwardly, not able to meet his gaze.

“You lied to me” he accused which she was not expecting. She met his stare almost challengingly, “I think you’ll find that at no point did I say that I was not being bullied”.

“Yeah but you did say that your day was good though which I assume was a crock of shit?”

“Oh please” she huffed “it’s all relative. I’ve been through worse than some kid can dish out so compared to that my days were good.”

“How exactly does he bully you?” 

Penny sighed, not loving the idea of rehashing four years of trauma. “It’s really nothing that bad Bucky, I get worse on my patrols”

“So he’s attacking you physically?” the look in his eye was dangerous and Penny resisted the urge to take a step backwards.

“Barely Buck, he shoves me occasionally, the only reason I even allow it is so I don’t raise suspicions.”

“You allow some kid to push you around?” he was not impressed. 

“Well yeah, I couldn’t suddenly go from not being able to defend myself to being able to kick his ass, it would be way too obvious.” She tried to explain.

“So this has been going on since before the bite?” 

Penny rubbed at her neck uncomfortably “Yeah I suppose, but as I say it’s really nothing that I can’t handle”

“So all he does is shove you around?”

“Yeah mostly, bit of name calling, the odd crass remark” at this he raised his eyebrow, but Penny wasn’t up for elaborating this time.

“How often does he mess with you?” 

“Err, well most days if I’m honest, it’s been worse since the internship, not that he believed I really had it but still” she shrugged.

“So what you’re saying is, for the whole time I’ve known you, you’ve been going to school and some jealous dick head has been hurling abuse at you?”

Penny’s lack of response was answer enough. 

“I’m gonna fucking kill him” he said before turning to leave. Penny grabbed his arm desperately “Bucky he’s a 15-year-old kid!” 

“So are you.” He shrugged out of her hold and she ran in front of him to block his way. 

“That doesn’t mean you can hurt him Buck, I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to even threaten him”

He looked down at her clearly unimpressed and she remembered who she was talking to. 

“So because he’s not an adult you don’t blame him for his actions?” 

“I mean I do blame him but I also believe in proportional response, given that he can’t actually hurt me it’s not right to hurt him” Bucky gritted his teeth at her damn principles.

“Do you have some super resilience to emotional abuse that I wasn’t aware of?” he challenged.

Penny rolled her eyes “No but I do think I can handle it better than some other kid”

He raised his hands in frustration “Oh so this is a martyr thing, should have guessed! And why is it that anyone has to handle it, why not just stop it?” he tried to reason with her, desperate to just change her mindset.

“Because it’s not that easy Bucky! If he was some thug on the street then I could deal with that, protect the victim, make sure that the bad guy is dealt with by the police and job done but this is school.”

“Okay so why don’t you tell a teacher, is that not the school yard equivalent?”

Penny sighed, rubbing her face wearily “That wouldn’t work” she sounded almost defeated. 

“Why not?” he asked.

“Because Bucky, they won’t do anything about it. You really think they’re ignorant to what’s been happening? They know and they can’t do shit because otherwise his dad will cause problems” 

He narrowed his eyes at this “so they ignore it because they’re scared of his dad?”

“Yeah pretty much” Penny admitted.

…

“You really think his dad is more powerful than yours?”

Penny gave him a look “They don’t exactly know about Mr Stark.”

“Right so first I scare the shit out of this kid, then I scare the shit out of your teachers, sounds good to me” he shrugged and pushed past her. Once again she grabbed his arm and pulled him back, allowing some of her strength and stickiness to ensure it actually worked. 

“Bucky seriously you can’t just threaten them! You’ll probably give them PTSD for Christ sake! Besides, Pepper is already going to talk to the school, I’m sure she can threaten them in a much more socially acceptable way than dangling them out of a bloody window.” Bucky smirked; she wasn’t far off the mark from his plan. After thinking on it for a bit he nodded. If Pepper was going to deal with the school then that worked, didn’t mean he wouldn’t track down the little prick one night to put the fear of god in him. Maybe he’d bring Natasha, she was more fun than Stevie when it came to those morally grey jobs.

“You going to keep letting people harass you?”  
…

“No?” she offered unconvincingly.

“Penny.” He said in anger.

“Honestly, I just, I don’t know Bucky, it will depend on the situation”

“There is no situation where that is acceptable” he countered through gritted teeth.

“Yes there is! You know damn well that if I see someone being hassled then I will step in, and sometimes, that really just means taking the hit in their place.”

This apparently was too much for the weary assassin “Fucking superheroes and their altruistic bullshit!” He cried out and Penny couldn’t help but smile. Who knew the Winter Soldier used words like altruistic.

“Sorry Buck, that’s pretty much the job. Don’t pretend you don’t do the same thing” Bucky pointed his finger in her face “No, what I do is I take the hit and then I break the fucking arm so it can’t hit again”

Penny roller her eyes at this “Once again, he’s just a kid”.

“Barely, soon he’ll be all grown up and graduating to other types of harassment.” 

Penny’s face flushed at this and Bucky suddenly felt his chest tighten.

“He’s not touched you has he?” his face red with fury and Penny knew that he didn’t mean tripping and shoving.

“No! God no, nothing like that” his shoulders sagged in relief “And if he does ever escalate then Spider-Girl can step in and deal with it”

A silence settled around them at that, it seemed they’d both said their piece. 

“Listen, I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you. I was just embarrassed, and I knew that everyone would go crazy” she cringed as he glared at her “Kid, honestly, I’d like to say that you’re forgiven, but you’re really not. You thought we were protective before but that was when we thought you would at least defend yourself.”

“Hey I defend myself!” she defended, ironically. “I’ll have you know that just 20 minutes ago I stood up to Flash!” she said proudly. 

Bucky looked her up and down “was that before or after the coffee bath?”

Her cheeks flushed “Well yeah okay so he didn’t take it well.” And suddenly Bucky was back to growling. 

Penny looked at her watch. “I really have to get back, my teacher is on my ass today and I cannot afford another detention.” He raised his eyebrows at this. 

“So this kid fucks with you and you end up with detention?” Penny shrugged her shoulders at him.

“Lead the way” he gestured, and she hesitated “… you can’t come with me Bucky”.

He scoffed at that “Sweetheart, I can do what the fuck I like. Now move your ass”

Penny grumbled at this but knew she couldn’t exactly stop him from following. She made her way back to the Food Hall and hoped that Mr Harrington hadn’t yet noticed her absence.

\--

As she pushed through the doors, Bucky hot on her heels, she could see that Parker LuckTM was in full force today. Immediately in front of her was Mr Harrington. Penny gulped. He was talking to Clint. 

Turning to her, Clint cried in greeting “There you guys are, your arm all fixed up now Bucky?” 

Without missing a beat Bucky gripped his shoulder and started rolling it experimentally. “Yeah much better, just needed an oil change.”

Clint turned back to Mr Harrington and clapped him on the shoulder “See teach, I knew Penny could fix it”

“Well be that as it may, she still shouldn’t have walked off, it violated the rules of the trip that she agreed to” he looked at Penny in anger. 

Bucky stepped up behind her, his arms crossed menacingly, and Mr Harrington looked away quickly. 

Clint waved his comment off “Yeah well we did try messaging her but she wasn’t answering, when FRIDAY said she was down here having lunch we figured we may as well come down for a quick tune up rather than have Bucky in pain for another 4 hours. He’s still a bit shy about the whole prosthetic thing so just wanted a bit of privacy.”

Mr Harrington shifted uncomfortably “Well I suppose I can understand that”

“Why were you ignoring my messages?” Bucky asked then and Mr Harrington cleared his throat. 

“Ah, now, that may be my fault” he admitted uncomfortably “I had to confiscate Penny’s phone” he pulled it out of his pocket sheepishly and Penny ducked her head when she felt the looks of both Clint and Bucky. 

Taking the phone from her teacher, Clint passed it back to Penny. “I’m afraid I can’t allow you to take her phone. Due to the nature of her responsibilities at Stark Industries, she cannot be unreachable. For future reference, you are never to confiscate her phone. If you have any problems with that then you can take it up with Tony Stark.”

Mr Harrington stuttered at that but made no argument. 

Clint clapped his hands together to break the tension. “Right well if I’m not mistaken you guys are due to continue with your tour now, is that right?” He then looked Penny up and down. “What happened to you kid? Why are you covered in coffee?” Mr Harrington looked at her also and Penny scratched the back of her neck with embarrassment. 

“I, err, I tripped” she offered weakly. 

Clints eyes flashed to Bucky and he raised his eyebrows almost imperceptibly.

“Well you can’t walk around like that, you have a change of clothes upstairs right?” he asked and Penny nodded.

“I’m sorry but Penny can’t just leave the group again” Mr Harrington interrupted. 

“Are you suggesting that she be forced to walk around in ruined clothes when she could just as easily go and get changed?” Bucky challenged which again left the teacher stuttering. 

“Tell you what, why don’t we escort Penny to go and get a change of clothes and we’ll meet you at the next stop on the tour” Clint offered, already turning Penny around to walk out again.

“I suppose that would be fine” she heard Mr Harrington say weakly.

“Perfect, we’ll see you in a bit teach” he called back jovially with a little wave of his hand.

As soon as they made it to the lift his entire persona had shifted “Fucking arse” and Penny couldn’t help but giggle. 

Clint turned on her at that point “You’re being bullied?”

“Aww Jesus, this again?” she cried in exasperation and Clint raised his eyebrow, clearly not amused.

She looked at him apologetically “I’m sorry Clint, but I feel like I’ve just diffused a nuclear war head with this one” she said, swatting Bucky on the arm “I really just want to curl up with a blanket and sleep for a week at this point.”

“Good luck with that, we’re heading up to the living room, it’s time for the boss fight” Bucky smirked.

Penny let her head fall into her hands, she backed up to the edge of the elevator and slid down the wall slowly until she was slumped on the floor. 

Taking pity on her, Clint then turned to Bucky “So what’s the plan Jimbo? Kick him out a window? Put him in the ring with ‘Tasha? Lock him in a room with the Hulk? … have Cap lecture him?”

Penny scoffed at that “The horror” she whispered and Bucky smiled down at her. 

\--

When the lift arrived at the communal floor, Penny didn’t move to get up.

She could hear Mr Stark and Captain Rogers arguing and she really didn’t want to get caught in the middle. 

“Come on kid” Bucky tapped her with his foot “time to face the music.”

She looked up at them and their faces softened in sympathy. 

They each offered a hand down to her and she breathed in deeply before taking them both. Making her way out of the elevator cautiously, she found that nearly every Avenger was gathered around the living room, they looked like they were in full battle strategy mode. Even Ms Potts was there, sitting primly on one of the breakfast bar stools. 

Mr Stark and Captain America were facing off and Penny hated being the cause of further conflict. None of them had noticed the newcomers but Clint soon fixed that. “Hey guys! Look who I found!”

Everyone turned as one and Penny felt like a deer in the headlights “Err, hey?”

Tony looked at her a moment, taking in the supportive hand that Bucky had on her shoulder. She looked exhausted and from the smell of it had coffee all over her. 

“You okay kid?” his voice was much softer than it had been a moment ago.

She wilted a bit “yeah, it’s been a long day” at their sympathetic looks she continued “for the record, I did warn you that this field trip was a terrible idea.” 

Mr Stark raised his eyebrow at that “Hey, in my defence, if I had known that you were being bullied …” he let it hang there as he shrugged.

“What, you wouldn’t have invited him to the place I work?” she challenged.

“No, I would have crushed him like a bug long ago, and today could have been about embarrassing you as it should have been.” He finished with a smirk.

She rolled her eyes at this “I’m gonna go change.”

“Yeah, about that, why are you covered in coffee?” he called after her. 

“I tripped!” she called back dismissively and everyone else rolled their eyes.

Once Penny had made it to her room she flopped unceremoniously on to her bed “I live here now” she muttered to herself as she wiggled under her covers, hiding from the world.

Within a minute she heard a sharp rap on her door “Come on little Spider” came the voice of Natasha.

“I’m still getting changed” she called out, her voice heavily muffled by the covers. The door opened and Penny felt someone sit to the side of her. “M’sick, can’t I stay home and make cookies with you Aunt Nat?” she pleaded, and Natasha stroked the bit of hair that she could see while Penny melted into the feeling.

“Afraid not little Spider, now come on, get up, get dressed and get out there” Penny sighed before rolling over until she dropped out of the bed with a flump. 

“k” She called from the floor and Natasha made her way back out of the room. Mustering up the will power, Penny quickly changed her clothes and washed her face in her bathroom. Finally, she marched out to the team with her head held high. On seeing them all still standing around she quickly steered towards the lift “Well, see ya later!” she called. 

“Sit your ass down” commanded Bucky and Penny swerved right back “yes’ir” she said, dropping heavily on the couch. 

Silence.

Tony was stood in front of her. Colonel Rhodes and Dr Banner stood on either side of him. Captain Rogers was sat on the other sofa, he was leaning forward and his arms were clasped, resting on his knees. Penny recognised it as his chess pose. Natasha was perched on the back of that sofa while Clint sat on the arm of it. Bucky was stood in front of the kitchen island while Wilson sat on the counter. Pepper was still sat at the bar stool next to them.

She looked at them all and couldn’t think of what she was supposed to say.

…  
…  
…  
…

“Seriously?” she cried out once the silence got too much for her. Tony smirked like he’d just won round one. He took a seat on the coffee table and leaned towards her. 

“Why don’t you start at the beginning kid.” Of offered.

“Ugh do I have to?” she pleaded.

“Yep.”

“Fine. Yes okay, there is a kid at school who is bothersome and annoying. He calls me names and its all just very tragic” she let her tone turn petulant.

Tony raised his eyebrow and she huffed.

“His name is Flash. We’ve been classmates since middle school, he’s been like this since about the 2nd grade.”

“When did he start bothering you?” Cap asked.

“Since about the 5th grade.”

“Do you know what started it?” 

She looked around shyly “I’d rather not say if I’m honest” she admitted.

Tony nodded at this. “That’s fine. Has he ever hit you?” 

“Not seriously.”

Suddenly Pepper interjected. “Honey” she said as if to imply that that was a lie.

“It’s the truth, he’s never hit me that badly, mostly he just trips me up, bumps into me or shoves me a bit.” She maintained.

“Your altercation in the Food Hall looked pretty serious.” Pepper stated and Penny flushed.

“You’ve seen it?” Tony asked at that.

“FRIDAY sent me a notification about it.” Pepper explained.

Penny’s stomach clenched in fear as Tony’s brows furrowed together. 

“FRIDAY why did you send it to Pep and not me?”

Busted, Penny thought.

“Ms Parker requested that all further incidents be reported to Ms Potts directly rather than yourself and Mr Hogan.” FRIDAY’s voice came through the walls.

“All further incidents?” Tony asked.

“There was an incident of harassment at 11:17 in R&D lab 17 wherein visitor Eugene Thompson accused – “ 

“FRIDAY stop” squealed Penny and mercifully she did.

The atmosphere was so thick that you could cut it with a knife.

“And Pep, you got the alert for that?”

She sighed “Yes, I watched the footage and called Penny. She asked that I not tell you, especially given the nature of what had been said, and I agreed that we could talk about it after the tour. I have since received seven more alerts.”

Penny ducked her head at that as several of the team were glowering.

“Kid?” Tony prompted but she couldn’t meet his eyes. He lifted himself from the coffee table and dropped down next to her on the sofa, sitting sideways to face her. “Come on, talk to me kid” he said poking her in the shoulder. 

“There’s not really anything else to say Mr Stark, he’s a dick and now you know about it”

“Why didn’t you tell us before?” he asked softly.

“Because it’s stupid, I’m supposed to be a superhero and I’m, what, going to go running to IronDad because someone was mean to me?” Tony couldn’t stop his smirk, he actually loved this nickname that people had come up with, even if it embarrassed Penny endlessly.

“First of all, this problem predates Spider-Girl” he poked her again “and secondly, yes, if someone is bothering Penny Parker, then you absolutely tell me.”

“Tony Stark is bothering me” she grumbled and he laughed. 

“Tough” he said, catching the slight smile on her lips. 

“Okay so here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to go back down to your class, escorted by Elsa and Katniss, there will be an Avenger chaperone for the remainder of the tour”

“Mr Staaark” she whined “I do not need the whole team to baby sit me!” 

“Shush, this is happening in my tower and I have a reputation to uphold. Like I would let anyone harass my own bloody intern under my own fucking roof.” 

“Language” said everyone, and he glared. 

“At the end of the tour you’ll stay here and we can talk more but ultimately I’m going to ruin this kids life!” he continued cheerily. 

Penny looked at him pleadingly, but he just clapped his hands together and jumped up from the couch.

“Right then, Penny off you pop, FRIDAY send me all harassment reports relating to Penny and if anything further happens, send it to me as well.

Penny looked at Pepper fearfully, but Pepper just shrugged in apology “I’ll watch it all with him and try to talk him down” was the only thing she could offer. 

Penny sat and watched as both Mr Stark and Ms Potts walked into their office. No doubt to watch all of Flash’s abuse. This could not go well. Suddenly a hand was in her face and she looked up to see Clint and Bucky both with smirks on their face. She grabbed Clints hand and pulled herself up. They made their way back down to the tour in silence. Penny couldn’t stop thinking about Mr Stark hearing what Flash had said to her. 

Once they made it to the training room Penny slipped inside, trying not to draw too much attention to herself. 

Unfortunately for her both Clint and Bucky followed her and the whole class was staring. 

Harley, who was standing in front of the class, stopped what he was saying and caught Penny’s eye. He raised his eyebrow at her and she nodded her head before going to stand by Ned and MJ. Both touched her arm in greeting.

“Right then, so as I was saying, the Avengers train here most days and as they all have different areas that they specialise in, there’s a wide range of equipment that they use. For example the weights over there are for the unenhanced while the weights over there have been designed by Mr Stark to be more challenging for the super soldiers and gods among them.”

Abe’s hand shot up at this and Harley pointed at him “Which Avenger can lift the most?” he asked excitedly.

Harley looked at Bucky then who was still standing with Clint at the edge of the room. “Well why don’t we ask Sergeant Barnes that question?” he asked with a sassy grin and the whole class turned to him excitedly.

“Who is the strongest Avenger Sergeant?” Harley asked cheekily. 

“The Hulk” he grunted and whole class seemed amazed to hear him speak. 

“And who’s the smartest Avenger?” Harley asked again. Bucky glared at him but answered all the same. 

“Probably Tony or Bruce” 

“Wow seems like Dr Banner is two for two” Harley commented “Is there any other Avenger who is both brain and brawn?”

“Spider-Girl” he said simply with a smile and Penny blushed. Luckily, no one was looking at her, too enraptured by The Winter Soldier. 

“Can Spider-Girl beat you?” Flash blurted out and Bucky glared at him. Penny realised that Bucky had heard what Flash had said about her earlier but potentially didn’t realise that this was her tormentor.

“Mr Thompson, please raise your hand if you wish to ask a question.” Harley said, looking pointedly between Flash, Bucky, Penny and back again. 

Penny could see when it clicked for both Bucky and Clint as they stood a little straighter. She watched carefully, ready to step between them if necessary. 

“I have been training Spider-Girl with Natasha Romanoff, yes I believe she is stronger than me” he growled, and Flash nodded, smirking to his friends. 

“Would anyone like a little self-defence lesson now?” Clint asked suddenly and the class cheered. Mr Harrington didn’t look pleased but they had all signed waivers so he couldn’t really say no. 

Harley beamed “That’s a great idea Clint, why don’t you see if Natasha is available to teach a little self-defence to the class?” Penny choked at the offended looks on both Clint and Bucky’s faces while Harley once again hid his smirk behind his clipboard. 

“Little Punk, I think we are perfectly capable of showing them the basics” Clint defended himself. Just then the door to the training room opened and in walked The Black Widow.

MJ seemed to perk up at that and Penny shot her a wink. 

Nat walked past Clint, clapping him sympathetically on the shoulder and Penny heard him grumble about it being his idea. 

She walked up to the front of the class with Harley and turned to address them.

“I hear that you all want to learn self-defence?” The class cheered at this, clearly impressed that she somehow had known what they were talking about. Penny assumed that she had just followed them down and had been watching through the window.

“Has anyone taken any self-defence before?” she asked and a few people raised their hands.

She pointed to Cynthia who shyly admitted that she was a Green Belt in Ju Jitsu, Nat smiled encouragingly at her, she then pointed at Abe who told her that he’d taken Karate when he was a kid but had stopped a few years ago. Finally she pointed to Flash who arrogantly told her that he’d been learning Kung Fu since he was 5 and that he would probably reach black belt soon. The whole class rolled their eyes at the humble brag. Nat didn’t smile.

“Okay brilliant well what we’ll do is I’ll demonstrate a move for you all and then you can pair up and practice it. Does that sound good?” the class nodded eagerly, and everyone rushed to put their bags and coats down at the side and slip their shoes off. Penny glanced worryingly at the Avengers in the room as they seemed to be having a silent conversation. 

Once everyone was back on the mat, she told them to pair up. MJ grabbed Penny’s arm and Ned smiled at them both before pairing up with Abe. Penny blushed when she caught MJ’s smirk and the pointed look that Harley gave her from across the room.

“Perfect, now who wants to help me with the demonstration?” she asked everyone and Penny felt her stomach tighten. A few people had raised their hand and Flash of course was one of them. 

Nat pretended to consider it before finally pointing to Flash who smirked at the class in victory, Penny glanced to MJ and they shared a look of disgust as he swaggered to stand next to Nat. Penny felt irrationally mad as she saw Flash look Natasha up and down. Nat could most definitely take care of herself but Penny still didn’t want Flash to lay his greasy little hand on her. 

“Okay first we need a good fighting stance” Nat called out. “Mr Thompson why don’t you show me yours?” Flash dropped into an exaggerated fighting stance and Penny rolled her eyes at the poor form. “Hmm okay the important thing is to have balance” Nat explained, she then hooked her leg around his and shoved him in the shoulder. Flash toppled over easily and the whole class giggled as he scrambled back to his feet, ears red.

Nat ignored him and called on Cynthia “Sorry what was your name?”

“Cynthia” the girl squeaked. 

“Cynthia” Nat smiled “Can you show us your fighting stance?” Which Cynthia did with practiced ease; her feet planted shoulder width apart, left leg forward, right leg back and facing to the side and both knees slightly bent. Her fists were raised, ready to block.

Nat nodded “Perfect form” she complimented and Cythina blushed at the praise. 

“See how she’s much more stable?” Nat gently pushed Cynthia, then grabbed her shirt and pulled her to the side but Cythia stood solid. Nat winked at her before explaining the stance to the rest of the class and they all tried to match it. Flash looked sullen as Nat walked back to him and pointed out how his was still wrong. 

“Excellent, now we need to make sure that you don’t break your thumb. Mr Thompson why don’t you show me how you should form a fist if you were going to throw a punch” Penny’s stomach knotted again. 

“Good” Nat said flatly “see how his thump is in front of his fingers?” she pointed out to the class. “I bet you throw a great punch Mr Thompson” Nat said flippantly, and he had the stupidity to smirk. 

Bucky growled. 

“Great so we have the stance and the fist. Now I’ll show you some dodges and blocks.”

“Mr Thompson why don’t you try and hit me”

“You want me to hit you?” Flash asked, suddenly uncertain and Nat smirked.

“I want you to try and hit me, don’t hold back.” And so Flash did try to hit her. She dodged each attempt easily and goaded him to keep trying. Soon the class started laughing at his attempts and Flash was getting increasingly frustrated; he was throwing punches wildly, trying to charge at her but Nat looked like a graceful dancer as she sidestepped each one. Finally, as Flash charged at her again, she stepped out of the way and pulled his extended arm down harshly, causing him to crash to the mat in defeat. The class cheered, Penny and MJ included. 

“The best way to not get hurt is to not get hit” Nat then said sagely. She shot a pointed look at Penny who blushed at the rebuke.

“Now of course if you can’t dodge then you block. This is mostly instinctive, and your reflexes will be faster the more you practice. The most important thing is to protect your head and to keep standing. If you go down, then get back up” She explained, and the class stared at her enraptured. 

Betty then raised her hand slowly and Nat called on her. 

“Could you, could you show us how to get out of holds?” she asked shyly. Nat looked at her piercingly for a second. “Any particular holds that you want me to show you?” and Penny looked on in concern also.

Betty’s face flushed before she continued “Err, I don’t really know how to explain it, like they’re holding you from behind?” 

Nat met Penny’s eye at that and she took her nod to mean that this was a friendly.

“Yeah I can show you that, I’ll show you a few now and if you want to talk about it more at a later date then I’m happy to talk you through some more. Just ask Penny and she can bring you here after school” Nat smiled at Betty. Flash squawked at that but everyone ignored him. The class were looking at Penny but instead of ducking her head to avoid it she met Betty’s eyes and nodded her head encouragingly. Betty smiled in response.

“Okay so getting out of holds” Nat called, drawing the attention to herself once more “the key is finding the week spot in the hold, it doesn’t matter how strong the attacker is, there is always a weakness that you can exploit. Tell you what, to demonstrate this fully, why don’t we change this up a bit. Bucky, Penny, come up here.” Nat called to them.

Penny stared at her in horror but at the look from Natasha she understood that this was important, she slowly made her way to the front of the class and faced off against a smirking Bucky. 

The class looked on and Penny could see a bit of fear in their eyes. She supposed that she did look tiny against The Winter Soldier, he’d taken off his jacket and his arm was shining brightly. 

Natasha laughed “Don’t worry, Penny is perfectly safe, as Tony Stark’s intern she does face an increased level of risk so she has regular training with all of the Avengers. It used to just be me but I think everyone has trained her at some point or another, she’s very skilled in defending herself” the class exploded into muttering and Penny heard Flash’s name thrown about quite a bit, clearly Bucky heard it also.

“Yeah if she can be bothered to” he growled and Penny blushed as the whole class had heard. 

“Can we just get on with this please?” Penny asked, looking pleadingly at Natasha who just raised an eyebrow in response. 

“Right then, getting out of holds, we’ll start with a choke hold from behind”

Penny dropped out of her fighting stance and turned around. Bucky looped his arm around her neck and she grabbed it instinctively.

“First you need to try and get your chin down and into the crook of the elbow so that you’re not being strangled.” Natasha explained and Penny demonstrated. “Next you keep a hold of their arm, lower your body and then pull them over your shoulder. If you need extra force then bring your leg up and stamp down, throwing your body into it.”

Penny demonstrated this and Bucky was thrown to the floor with a thundering smack. 

The class looked at her in awe and Penny rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly before offering Bucky a hand up. 

“Perfect, we should probably also show you how to break a fall before we get you throwing each other about, Penny if you’d be so kind?”

Penny glared at her but demonstrated none the less and the class looked impressed. 

After Nat had everyone try the breakfalls, she had Bucky and Penny demonstrate a few more holds. She then had the pairs spread out and give it a go, taking turns between being the attacker and the defender. The adults in the room were keeping a close eye on everyone so Penny turned to her partner with a smile. She was impressed with how quickly MJ picked up the moves and Penny was extremely careful not to hurt her. Natasha walked around and gave advice as necessary; she spent the most time with Betty until she was certain that she had it down. 

After another ten minutes of this Harley checked his watch and cleared his throat. 

“Right” Natasha called “I think that’s all we have time for today, good work everyone! Thank you, Cynthia, Betty and Penny, in particular for your inputs.” All three girls blushed and Penny supressed a grin when she heard Flash grumble to himself. 

As the class were pulling their shoes and jackets back on Harley explained that the last stop on their tour was a Q&A with some lab heads and current interns about what they look for when hiring and how the process worked; everyone seemed excited enough. The day had been enjoyable for most and they all loved the idea of working here someday.

As they made it to the conference room Penny gulped. As promised, sat on the stage were two lab heads and two interns, Penny knew them all well and worked with them often. Unfortunately, they were not alone as both Pepper Potts CEO and Tony Stark himself, owner of Stark Industries, were sat with them. Mr Stark looked pissed and Penny spotted Happy stood near the door, he also looked furious and Penny noticed how his eyes were glued to Flash. 

Penny didn’t miss how Clint, Bucky and Natasha had stayed with the group and were now standing at the back of the room. 

She gulped and slid down in her seat, pulling her hood up. MJ and Ned, who were sat on either side of her, were grinning unapologetically. “Sorry Penny, as much fun as it was watching Ms Romanoff humiliate Flash, I’m really looking forward to seeing what your IronDad does” he said in glee and Penny moaned. 

MJ grabbed her hand and squeezed it, flashing Penny a smile. 

Staring at their hands in shock, she looked at MJ slowly and completely forgot about all of the embarrassment. 

“MJ …” she started “did you, did you want to grab a coffee after school?” 

MJ’s smile grew and she pretended to think about it “Sure, it’s a date” she said lightly and Penny beamed. 

Ned just smiled next to them. It was about damn time, he thought. 

With her enhanced senses Penny heard Bucky whisper to Nat and Clint and she blushed before turning to the front of the room, hyper aware of the hand which was still being held by MJ. 

She then saw both Pepper and Mr Stark look down at their phones before looking up at her with soft smiles on their faces. She rolled her eyes at them before ducking her head again. It was her own fault for doing this in the same room as someone with super hearing. 

Once everyone was settled down the talk started. 

It was going fine in the beginning, the lab heads talked about what an internship involved and what they looked for in applications, the interns talked about their own experiences, how they went about applying, what they were currently studying and what they hoped to do in the future. Ms Potts then spoke about SI as a whole, their mission statement etc, before telling the class about her own journey which had started as an intern in the legal team and had lead her all the way to the top.  
They then opened it up to questions. 

Several hands shot up and Harley called on several people who asked the typical, appropriate questions, before he finally called on Flash who was practically waving his hand around at this point. 

“Mr Thompson?” he called

“Hi, err, this is a question for Mr Stark?” 

“Shoot” Tony said, speaking for the first time.

Flash grinned at him “I was wondering what you specifically look for in an intern sir?”

Penny could see the gleam in Mr Stark’s eye “Well that’s a great question Mr Thompson, let’s see, what do I look for in an intern … obviously they need to be a genius if they’re going to keep up with me, passionate about the science, proactive and innovative is always helpful. Don’t mean to brag but I’m kind of brilliant, so I need someone who’s going to try a different approach. They need to be trustworthy, as they would deal with a lot of sensitive projects. Most importantly they need to be a fan of Iron Man, more so than the rest of those freeloaders” he continued, and Penny rolled her eyes, she was smiling at the rest of his speech though.

Unfortunately, Flash was also grinning. “That all sounds very reasonable sir, and how do I apply to be your intern?” he asked cockily.

“Sorry Mr Thompson, but the position is already filled by Penny Parker, who is all of that and more. I’d be a hypocrite if I said that being a kind, honest and all together remarkable person was a requirement for the role but it’s certainly made it an honour to work with her and to mentor her” He continued, grinning at Penny obviously. She ducked her head as everyone else swivelled to look at her, none of them caught the happy tears that filled her eyes. 

Flash was gaping “But Sir” he tried, and Penny really wished he would just sit down and shut up. “I can assure you that I am much better candidate that P-Parker” he argued, and Penny marvelled at the fact that he couldn’t even say her first name. 

Mr Stark glared at him “And why is that young man, what is it about you that makes you better then her?” he challenged, and Flash was struck dumb. 

“Well, do you have any evidence to support your claim?” Tony pushed and Flash spluttered. The class were looking at him, some even pityingly as he tried to crawl out of the hole he’d dug.

“How disappointing, I would expect any prospective intern to at least come prepared. FRIDAY be a dear and pull up an academic comparison between Eugene Thompson and Penny Parker”

One of the screens on stage blinked on and displayed what looked like their school records. Penny blushed while Flash’s face tensed in anger. Mr Stark was still staring him down. “Give me the cliffs notes FRIDAY” he said sweetly. 

“Of course Boss, having compared the records it would appear that Ms Parker’s grades are superior to Mr Thompson’s in all areas excepting physical education.” And Tony barked a laugh before looking at Penny. 

“Seriously kid, you’ve been sparring with the literal Avengers and you still can’t be bothered to put any effort into a game of dodge ball? Consider Captain America your new coach, your target is to up your grade so that you wipe the floor with him in every subject”

He turned back to Flash at that “Seems to me that I got the right person for the job don’t you think Mr Thompson, unless you think something other than academic prowess is relevant here?” he goaded and Flash slumped back in his chair, crossing his arms defensively. 

“Nothing further to say? How bizarre, well having viewed the footage of your altercations with Penny throughout today, let me just address the points that you raised then.” The blood drained from Flash’s face and Mr Stark gave him a fierce look. 

“First of all, Penny’s sexual orientation and her familial background have nothing to do her with being an Intern so I don’t see why that would effect which of you was better for the job. Secondly, the implication that Penny was awarded the position for any reason other than her fucking impressive intelligence and hardworking approach is frankly vile and the slanderous accusation has already been passed on to my extensive team of lawyers. Finally, and let me be clear on this, if I ever hear you threaten to kick her face in, or if you ever lay another fucking hand on her, then I shall personally ensure that that hand is removed permanently” he finished ferociously. 

You could have heard a pin drop with the silence that followed, Flash looked absolutely terrified. 

Tony then turned to their teacher who squeaked audibly.

“Mr Harrington I presume, I have arranged a meeting between myself, Penny, Penny’s aunt and Principle Morita on Monday at three o’clock. I would like you to attend so that I can hear what actions you have taken in response to the ongoing abuse” My Harrington could only nod in response, pale as a sheet.

“Excellent, well I think that’s enough for today. Mr Thompson, you are hereby banned from Stark Industries for life” he said casually, and Flash looked ready to cry.

“Penny, Ned Leeds and Michelle Jones shall all be staying here, the rest of you kindly exit my tower, this tour is over” he stated and Mr Harrington looked like he was trying to work up the courage to object. 

Taking pity on him Pepper stepped in “All three of their guardians have emailed you to authorise this, if you need to speak to them then their numbers are included in their emails. Mr Harrington checked his phone frantically before he nodded in acceptance. The rest of the class were then escorted out by Happy. 

There was silence once they’d all gone, the only people left were Tony, Pepper and Harley at the front. Penny, Ned and MJ sat in the middle. Nat, Bucky and Clint at the back. 

“Duuuude” Ned whispered and everyone laughed.

The door then opened and in walked Sam, Rhodey and Cap. Rhodey looked around theatrically “Hmm, no broken windows, no blood, what are you going soft Tones?” he laughed as Mr Stark flipped him the bird. 

Penny stood, pulling MJ with her, their hands still linked. Ned followed shortly after, looking at The Captain America in awe.

“Well that was awful” Penny joked as everyone came together.

“No, what was awful was seeing what that little shit said to you” Mr Stark responded. He pulled Penny into his arms and she melted into the hug. 

The soft interaction seemed to bleed the tension from everyone, and this was how Happy found them. 

“They’re all gone boss” he said curtly and Penny looked at him in concern. 

“Excellent well how about we all head up to the communal floor and we can get to know Penny’s friends” Mr Stark said squeezing Penny’s shoulders. She realised that the embarrassment may not yet be over but she thought she could handle this having survived the day so far.

As they all made their way out of the conference room and to the lifts, Happy pulled her to the side for a moment. 

“Happy, are you okay?” she asked tentatively.

“No, I’m not okay kid, you promised me that you would tell me if it got worse”

Penny smiled sadly at him. 

“I’m really sorry Happy, I just couldn’t risk you trying to run him over, or worse, telling Mr Stark” she looked up at him hopefully and his face softened. 

“Whatever, if anyone ever bothers you again then you are bloody well going to tell me okay? And if you think I won’t find out, remember that I run the security at Stark Industries”

Penny gulped and agreed that she absolutely would tell him. She maybe even meant it. 

Once that was sorted the two caught up with the group who were casually holding the lift for them and they all acted as if there had been no interruption. 

Ned was talking to Captain America excitedly and MJ silently slipped her hand back into Penny’s. Mr Stark placed a casual hand on her shoulder as he talked to Pepper. 

Penny smiled, maybe today hadn’t been the absolute worst. She squeezed MJ’s hand softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I hope you liked it! 
> 
> This is my first time posting a fic so I'm not entirely happy with the style but i have to start somewhere :P
> 
> If you have any feedback then it's very welcome ^_^ xx


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